


Icy Embrace

by CutesyMe



Series: Klance Week 2k16 [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood, Dry Humping, Fluff, Galra Keith, Getting Back Together, Kissing, Klanceweek2k16, Love Confessions, M/M, Neck Kissing, Nipple Play, Panic Attacks, Post-Break Up, Self Destructive Behaviour, Smut, Violence, in the second chapter, klance, klanceweek, neck biting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-08-07 22:31:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 21,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7732210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CutesyMe/pseuds/CutesyMe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He rubbed up and down Keith’s arms in an attempt to warm him up and when that obviously didn’t seem to work he shrugged off his jacket and put it around Keith’s shoulders. Lance wrapped one of his arms around Keith’s shoulder and took both of Keith’s hands in his, lead them to his mouth and breathed hot air on it. After a while he rubbed Keith’s cold cheeks and then his hands again.</p><p>When that didn’t seem to work Lance stopped and started freaking out for a while.</p><p>“What do I do? What do I do?” Lance mumbled to himself and then remembered a movie he had once watched.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Day 5 of Klance Week and I only have two days left to write two stories. Pray for me.
> 
> I didn't even know this was smut until it was too late. Enjoy.
> 
> Prompt is Ice/Fire.

A lot of peculiar things have happened to Lance. For quiet some time Hunk even had a list where he documented all of the embarrassing things that happened to Lance. The list got so long in such a short time that Hunk grew tired of documenting everything and stopped. Not even Pidge wanted to continue it.

Now if that list existed Lance would have told Hunk to put this occasion on the very top. From all the things that happened to Lance and all the fights that Lance had with Hunk and Pidge about what occurence made it number one, this one now was definitely it.

Lance knew it the moment Shiro had sent out Lance and Keith together that this wouldn’t end well. There was still too much tension between them which had gotten worse since Keith had dumped Lance without a proper explanation after two months.

One could say that asking out your rival, making out with him, and going on a somewhat date with him was just an invitation for trouble. But it was also an inarguable fact that it had gone well. Lance had liked the time he spent with Keith where they still bickered but in another way, where they still insulted each other but the insults had changed and were spoken out softer than before, where they still got mad at each other but making up was more beautiful than before.

And then Keith had gone and ruined it by breaking things up without an explanation.

Things had been going fantastic, things had been going so well Lance had thought about introducing Keith to his family when they would get back to earth. That was why now it was unbearable for Lance to remain with Keith in such small space.

Lance banged against the ice wall like he did for the past ten minutes and demanded they should get let out. The whole time he tried to get any of the other three paladins to answer him by screaming for help in his mind but to no avail, so he started screaming aloud.

“SHIRO! DAMMIT SHIRO, ANSWER ME,” Lance screamed and kicked the wall.

“Will you stop?” Keith snapped and successfully made Lance stop his banging.

Lance only looked at Keith for a moment and then started again. Keith groaned.

“For someone whose lion can shoot ice you do have no impact on this ice at all,” Keith mocked.

Lance faced him and spat. “For someone whose guardian spirit is the one of fire you surely can’t do anything against a little ice.”

Keith grimaced and looked away. Sighing, Lance slid down the wall and sat down on the cold ice. Getting trapped inside an ice cave might be a new record in Lance’s history of having messed up.

A sound so silent that Lance wondered if he had imagined it made its way into Lance’s ear. Lance looked around to see where it came from and his eyes halted on Keith who had aggressively grit his teeth, his knees pressed to his chest.

“Are you cold?” Lance asked after he stared at Keith for a while flabbergasted.

“Why would I? It’s not like we’re trapped inside a cold cave made out of cold ice,” Keith barked and grit his teeth again when they chattered.

“Geez, chill. Was just asking.”

Both of them went silent again and no matter how much Lance tried not to care, told himself that this wasn’t his problem, he could not stop himself from worrying. Swallowing down a lot ot pride but staring at the ground, Lance asked. “Do you want my jacket?”

Lance continued to stare at the ground as he waited for Keith to answer. It was silent for a long moment and then Lance couldn’t bear it anymore. He looked up and saw Keith looking at him in surprise. The moment was so short that Lance wondered if he imagined it.

“Don’t be an idiot,” Keith growled and averted his gaze. “You need your jacket.”

Lance didn’t know what to think of Keith worrying about him combined with his hateful tone.

“I’m not that cold,” Lance insisted.

“Just keep it and be quiet.”

Lance huffed and got up to go to the other end of the cave where he didn’t need to see Keith and sat down. He closed his eyes and thought about Shiro and the rest of the team. He wondered how long it would take them and how disappointed Shiro was going to be when he found out that Keith and Lance had failed.

After quiet some time of thinking the cold slowly seeped into Lance’s body and suddenly he was glad that he didn’t give Keith his jacket. He got up because falling asleep definitely wasn’t the right thing to do when they could easily die in their sleep and decided to pace around in the cave for a while.

Lance sneaked a glance at Keith and froze when he saw that the other boy was laying on the floor, arms wrapped around himself in order to stay warm but he was still shaking.

“Keith,” Lance exclaimed when he woke up from his stupor and ran over.

He shook Keith, who could barely open his eyes, and helped him sit up.

“What’s wrong?” The last thing Lance needed now was to panic but it was so easy to do so. He didn’t do it.

“Am c-cold,” Keith breathed so silently Lance almost couldn’t hear him. The chattering of his teeth wasn’t helping.

He rubbed up and down Keith’s arms in an attempt to warm him up and when that obviously didn’t seem to work he shrugged off his jacket and put it around Keith’s shoulders. Lance wrapped one of his arms around Keith’s shoulder and took both of Keith’s hands in his, lead them to his mouth and breathed hot air on it. After a while he rubbed Keith’s cold cheeks and then his hands again.

When that didn’t seem to work Lance stopped and started freaking out for a while.

“What do I do? What do I do?” Lance mumbled to himself and then remembered a movie he had once watched.

He remembered how one character had stripped both of them naked and used body heat to warm themselves. Lance was questioning that method but when he saw how much Keith was shivering he was ready to try it out.

“Hey, Keith.” Lance patted Keith’s face to make him open his eyes. “I’m going to put off our clothes to help you warm up.”

Lance put off his jacket from Keith’s shoulder and when he tried to take off Keith’s jacket, he resisted.

“Keith, what the fuck?”

“You’re s-s-sick, per-pervert.”

That landed like a punch to Lance’s stomach. The two of them experimented a little bit when they were dating but nothing more than handjobs and one attempted blowjob. Admittedly, Lance sometimes still thought about Keith when he was showering although he told himself not to. And he was sometimes in his dreams, but Lance would never take advantage of Keith like that. He thought Keith knew that. He had to endure that if he wanted to save Keith.

“Don’t be a little child, Keith. This is for your own sake.”

“P-piss off.”

Lance gripped Keith’s collar and shook him. “YOU’RE GOING TO DIE!” he screamed and hoped Keith would get back to his senses. “We can fight about this and you can thank me after I save you.”

Lance watched Keith for a while and then slowly lead one hand to put Keith’s jacket off without breaking eye contact with him. When Keith didn’t stop Lance from putting off his jacket he used both hands to put it off.

He sped up his movements and removed Keith’s jacket first, then his shirt and then his own. For a moment after that he didn’t know what to do, shivered in the cold and stood there motionless, and then he slowly wrapped his arms around Keith. Lance pressed him as close to himself as possible and hid his face in the crook of Keith’s neck to breathe some hot air on him. When Keith’s cold nose and cheeks touched Lance’s chest, Lance hissed.

“Okay, I’m sorry. I so don’t know what to I’m doing here,” Lance apologized rubbed Keith’s back.

He shivered when Keith pressed his cold lips against his neck and gasped when Keith opened and closed them in a kissing motion again. His grip around Keith automatically tightened when Keith repeated the motion again and hid his face in Keith’s hair.

“What are you doing?” he hissed.

“It he-helps, I heard. Just d-do i-it,” Keith stuttered.

Lance shook his head in horror, not believing what Keith was just suggesting. When he pulled back and saw Keith’s blue lips and pale face, he knew he had no other chance.

He cupped Keith’s cheek with one hand and slowly leaned in. He halted right before he pressed his lips to Keith’s to make sure he still wanted and then closed the distance. Keith’s lips were cold and felt numb, it worried Lance but also made him more determined to save Keith.

Lance put more pressure into the kiss and let his hands roam around Keith’s back, both, to keep him warm and to explore. He tried not to enjoy it, for the sake of Keith and himself, but that was impossible. Keith’s lips felt familiar but also different. It may have to do with the fact that they were cold and barely moveable, but also with the fact that Keith kissed back differently.

Keith obliged when Lance pushed him to lay on his jacket and straddled his hips. Lance pressed his chest flush against Keith’s to preserve as much warmth as possible and attached his lips to Keith’s neck.

Lance told himself he imagined the small whimper that left Keith’s lips and remembered how turned on Keith got when he played with his nipple. The more turned on he was the warmer he would get, right?

Cold air made goosebumps appear on Lance’s back but he wasn’t bothered by it. Keith’s warm skin on his made him feel on fire. When Lance looked at Keith some colour had reappeared in his face and he was sure he could also see a blush forming there.

Lance gazed into Keith’s eyes for a while and then lowered his head to his nipple. He darted his tongue out and licked a stripe up the hardened bud. Now, he was sure that he hadn’t imagined Keith’s hiss. Lance pressed his thumb to the other nipple and sucked on this one.

Keith buried his hands into Lance’s hair and tugged on the roots. Lance took that as a reassurance to continue. He spent quiet some time to play with Keith’s nipple and then kissed up Keith’s chest. He left a trail of hickeys and spit, bit on Keith’s collarbone and finally kissed Keith again until his lips warmed up again. Lance broke the kiss and put his forehead on Keith’s shoulder when his crotch brushed Keith’s.

“We should stop,” Lance breathed and had to restrain himself from pressing a kiss to Keith’s shoulder.

“No,” Keith groaned and bucked his hips into Lance’s. Lance bit on Keith’s shoulder to muffle his moan. “Continue.”

“You’re so cruel,” Lance laughed humorlessly, his shoulders shaking. He attached his lips to Keith’s neck again. “You’ll hate me.”

Keith cupped Lance’s face and made him look at him. “I want this. So do it.”

Lance groaned pathetically. “We should keep our pants on.”

“Of course, we should, idiot,” Keith hissed and Lance chuckled.

“Good to see you’re a little less dead.”

“Shut up,” Keith mumbled and pulled Lance down to kiss him.

It was hard to resist Keith in this situation and impossible when he wanted Lance too. So Lance gave in to his desires and pressed his crotch to Keith’s. Keith choked out a breath and Lance whined, slowly finding a rythm.

Lance supported himself on his elbows so he wouldn’t crush Keith underneath him and whimpered when his hard on pressed against Keith’s. Keith buried his nails in Lance’s skin and bucked his hips to meet Lance half way.

“You’re…so good at this,” Keith muttered and threw his head back when Lance rolled his hips into Keith’s. “Like always.”

“Fuck,” Lance cursed when he was reminded of their time together. “Missed you so much,” he choked out against Keith’s neck and pressed open-mouthed kisses on it.

Keith mewled and gripped Lance’s ass with his hands, pressing him closer. The small whines and gasps that left his lips fueled Lance on.

Lance was the first one to cum, stopping his movements until he came down from his high. When he regained his senses back and saw Keith writhing impatiently underneath him. Lance made some room for his hand and pressed it on Keith’s crotch. Keith hissed, threw his back and dug his fingers into Lance’s upper arms.

Most of the times Lance had been the one to come first. When that had happened for the first time he was a little embarrassed but that embarrassment was replaced with the pleasure of watching Keith shiver, writh, pant and whimper. It was worth it.

Keith completely stilled underneath Lance, a gasp dying down in his throat. Lance continued the movements of his hands but slower until Keith relaxed and whimpered, his eyes still close. Even after Lance had removed his hand Keith had still closed his eyes and it took him some time to open them. Lance watched him the whole time, his hand running through Keith’s hair. He was trying to remember the smallest thing about this when Keith pulled him down and kissed him.

Lance was surprised but he pushed that aside because Keith wanted him. And he wanted Keith, had never stopped to. Keith switched their positions because he knew that Lance was always tired after sex and put his jacket around his own shoulders. He pressed himself close to Lance and started lazily making out with him.

When Shiro found them, pounding on the ice wall from the other side, Keith jumped out of Lance’s arms and hastily pulled on his shirt and jacket while Lance watched him with horror slowly settling into his gut. He didn’t want to leave the cave. He either wanted to remain here with Keith if this was the only place Keith could keep him or he wanted to die there and then.

Lance was sure he was going to cry.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I asked you something,” Keith urged and closed the distance between him and Lance even more.
> 
> Lance’s almost went cross eyed as he was looking into Keith’s eyes. He let his gaze drop to Keith’s lip and the his eyes again.
> 
> Was Keith’s grip really that harsh or did it only feel like that to Lance because he couldn’t remember how Keith’s touch felt anymore?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally awoke from the dead. This was supposed to be updated yesterday but things happened. 
> 
> If it seems like the beginning was written by someone else, it's because I wrote that a month ago. People change.

Lance sighed when he heard footsteps approaching him. Seemed that his newest hideout had also been found out, and now he had to look for a new one again. Slowly all the places he could hide, where he hadn’t hid yet and which also weren’t occupied by that one person he was trying to avoid the most although a part of Lance yearned to see him, were becoming less and less.

Judging by the footsteps, Lance knew who it was and kept his eyes closed to pretend that he was blissfully unaware of what interrogation was awaiting him. When Hunk and Pidge approached Lance he knew that they would ask him how he felt but would leave him alone after looking at Lance a little worried. Coran always only tried to cheer him up and distract him. Allura rather tried to make Lance talk about his problems and when Lance couldn’t shake her off with a little flirting he knew she was serious and opted for ignoring her.

Now all of that wasn’t as easy as it sounded when it came to Shiro. Shiro was on a whole different level of interrogating people and making them say things they didn’t want to say. He also wasn’t as easy to get rid off as the rest was. Most of the times Lance was spared from having to deal with Shiro because Shiro was responsible for him mostly, and Pidge and Hunk were often seen with Lance. The rest was equally divided between him and Lance.

Lance heard the footsteps come to a halt right next to his head, and with a silent sigh Lance braced himself. He removed his arm from his eyes and flashed one of his cocky smiles up at Shiro even though he knew he wasn’t fooling anyone, especially not Shiro.

“What’s up buddy?” Lance asked, still laying on the ground.

Shiro stared at Lance silently for a while, most probably contemplating what reaction Lance wanted to see, and took in a deep breath. “Dinner’s ready.”

The smile on Lance’s face fell and he plastered it on his face as soon as he saw one of Shiro’s eyebrows raise in question. When Shiro was asking him to come and eat a meal with them he knew that he would also be there. After Lance and him had developed a schedule of him eating first and Lance eating after he was done it had went on like this until now.

“I’m not hungry. You go ahead,” Lance said and put his arm on his forehead again.

“Lance. Be reasonable.”

Lance groaned and decided to drop his facade since everyone knew either way. “I don’t want to.”

“Why is this happening again and also worse than the first time?” Shiro asked.

“I don’t want to talk about this, Shiro,” Lance retorted and hoped Shiro would stop.

“It can’t go on like this forever. What bad thing did he do to make you avoid him this much?”

“I think us having sex and him acting as nothing had happened, as if we didn’t tell each other we missed each other isn’t one of most awful things that can happen to me. He said he wanted to although he knew what I felt. So does he feel the same and is just being a prick and won’t admit it to himself or is he really a douche and just acted? I don’t know. But whatever it is I have a solid reason to not be reasonable.”

Lance was breathing heavily when he ended his rant and Shiro looked pained but apparently that wasn’t enough to let go.

“I am sure when you talk to Keith that-”

“Don’t say his name,” Lance interrupted Shiro. “Don’t defend him and don’t talk in his stead. If he wants to say something he can do so himself. I at least deserve this much.”

Shiro sighed and held out his hand. “Let’s go.”

Lance groaned and slapped his hands on his face. “I didn’t tell you about what happened so you would continue to harass me.”

“Lance.”

“Ugh, fine,” Lance gave in and didn’t take Shiro’s hand out of spite. He stood up ungracefully. “Don’t corner him too much. You are the only one actually close to him and if he pushes you away we lost him,” Lance added and walked ahead.

Shiro didn’t comment on that and followed Lance silently while Lance braced himself about seeing him. Nothing could prepare him for that.

Entering the eating area and not actually looking at him was easy. Lance only registered where he was sitting and sat somewhere where Lance didn’t have to look at him. The small conversations that stopped when Lance had entered were picked up again after the initial shock.

Lance wanted to look at him, to see if Lance’s appearance had caused something visible on his face or if he would acknowledge Lance, but he knew he couldn’t. It would hurt too much.

Shiro sat down too and the bowls were passed around then. Lance put something on his plate for the satisfaction of the rest of them, and also because he knew he had to be a little reasonable and needed to eat.

“Can I have the salt?”

Lance breathed in sharply through his nose when he heard his voice and breathed out slowly through his mouth, trying not to let his composure crumble. Hearing his voice felt like a punch to the gut. It was too much for Lance to listen to.

For a second he contemplated leaving the eating area and going away from it as far as possible. But then Lance felt a hand on top of his. He looked at the hand, followed it up the arm and looked Hunk in the face. Lance gulped and turned his head. Shiro was watching him too. He looked back at Hunk and managed a shaky breath.

“It’s okay,” Hunk mumbled and patted Lance’s hand.

Lance nodded and sat back in his chair again. Hunk put some food on his plate while Lance calmed himself down.

If Shiro had hoped that Lance and Keith would spend a little more time in each others presences without feeling bad, then that plan definitely backfired. Lance grew even more silent and barely talked to anyone anymore.

The confirmation that everything that happened in that ice cave meant nothing to Keith had taken its toll on Lance. Before that Lance at least had hope that Keith just needed time to gather enough strength to talk to Lance. Lance had hoped foolishly but at least he had hope.

Now he was only broken hearted.

The worst part about it was that Keith didn’t only not acknowledge what happened in the cave, he also completely ignored Lance.

When Keith and Lance had fought for the first time after getting together, both of them had yelled at each other. There had been so much screaming and accusing that Lance was sure the worst thing that could happen to him was Keith screaming at him again in that tone with that look in his eyes. Now he wished for Keith to scream at him. It might be the screaming that Lance hated but at least it would be more than he was getting right now from Keith.

In retrospect, and not only in retrospect, thinking about all of that wasn’t a good idea while the paladins were on a galran ship and could be attacked and killed at any moment, but it just so happened that Lance didn’t care. He had already given up on not thinking about Keith.

Now Lance wasn’t suicidal by any means but when something sharp and cold touched the back of Lance’s neck his first thought was what Keith would do if he died.

“Drop your weapon and turn around,” a deep voice said behind Lance.

Lance’s grip on his bayard tightened and he tried to turn around with it still in his hands. The blade pierced Lance’s skin and he hissed, stopping his movements.

“DROP your weapon and turn around. Another move like that and I’ll seperate your head from your body without any hesitation.”

Admitting defeat and hoping one of his teammates would appear for his rescue, Lance slowly let his bayard fall to the floor and then faced the galra behind him.

Just like the rest of galrans Lance had seen so far, this one too was purple, tall, had yellow eyes, and furry ears. Lance eyed the sword the galra was holding to his neck and then the rest of him. It didn’t seem like he had a weak point so Lance waited patiently.

“You know, curiosity killed the cat,” the galra said and raised his sword.

“Commander Thace.”

Lance and the galran commander looked at the soldier that approached but Lance was a little faster at looking back and picking up his bayard than the commander was at looking back at Lance. Lance shot the commander first, hitting him on the shoulder and chest, and then Lance attacked the soldier. He sighed when the soldier also landed on the floor, motionless, and turned to the weapon he was supposed to keep an eye on again. Lance was glad it wasn’t damaged.

“LANCE! NO!” Keith screamed.

Lance startled and turned around, seeing the galran commander standing behind him. The commander was looking at Keith but didn’t react until Keith had hit him with his sword. This time he was knocked out for sure.

“We need to go,” Keith yelled and took Lance’s hand.

Lance watched in awe as Keith dragged him towards their lions, the warmth in his chest bringing tears to his eyes. He bit his lip so he wouldn’t start crying and tightened his fingers around Keith’s hand.

It had been so long since Keith had touched him.

The rest of the paladins were already waiting for Keith and Lance, urging them to go to their lions. When Keith let go of Lance’s hand, Lance felt like he was going to die but his determination to come out alive of here had only grown thanks to Keith. So he ran into his lion and followed Shiro out of the galran ship.

Lance was still trying to recover from the shock of Keith having touched him after all of them had gathered in one place. He was supporting himself with a hand against the wall and was staring at the hand Keith had held, trying to remember how the touch had felt.

An all too familiar and loud “Lance!” ripped Lance out of his stupor. He turned around and was immediately pushed against the wall. Two hands on his arms pinned him where he was and he stared at Keith with wide eyes.

“What did you think you were doing back there?” Keith screamed. “You could have been killed. How can you be this reckless?”

Now, if Keith and Lance were still dating or were still friends Lance - despite noticing that Keith’s voice was dripping with worry - would have screamed back. But now he opted for focusing on the worry he could hear in Keith’s voice and focused all his willpower on not hugging Keith.

It was quiet for a moment, Lance too afraid of ruining this somehow and the rest speechless.

“I asked you something,” Keith urged and closed the distance between him and Lance even more.

Lance’s almost went cross eyed as he was looking into Keith’s eyes. He let his gaze drop to Keith’s lip and the his eyes again.

Was Keith’s grip really that harsh or did it only feel like that to Lance because he couldn’t remember how Keith’s touch felt anymore?

“I-I’m sorry,” Lance stuttered. “I thought he was unconscious.”

“But he wasn’t.” Keith’s grip on Lance’s arms tightened. “You should be more careful.”

Lance nodded and now he expected Keith to let go of him. What he didn’t foreshadow was Keith hesitating, gnawing on his lower lip, and then letting go of Lance. Lance wanted to ask him to go on and say what he wanted to but didn’t dare to. His chest filled with dread but Lance was hopeful that everything would get better now.

Keith turned around to leave, halted when he saw that everyone had been staring at them the whole time and reddened. He rushed out.

Lance was sure it would get better.

Lance learned not to trust his instinct. Lance learned not to trust anyone’s instinct.

After what happened the other day everyone assured Lance that him and Keith were on the way to getting better, that everything would go back to normal.

What none of them had expected was Keith being back to ignoring Lance’s existence.

The day after the mission to the galran ship, Lance had been hopeful and gone to breakfast with a shy smile on his face. He had sat in front of Keith and talked to him, and had gotten barely any answers. It had irritated Lance and everyone else could see that too but Lance blamed morning grumpiness.

Throughout the day, Lance had tried talking to Keith again and again but it was all the same. Keith continued to act as if Lance didn’t exist.

It had frustrated Lance so much, he trashed his room and spent the rest of the day in the training room until he was too tired to raise his hands.

Everything went back to how it was after the ice cave incident but now it was far worse.

“Lance, for how long is this going to continue?” Shiro asked after having found another one of Lance’s hiding spots.

Lance remained quiet.

Shiro sighed.

The second time Lance endangered his life in a mission because he was in deep thoughts about Keith again, Hunk was the one to save him. Lance was in a trance as he went to join the others after the mission, everyone looking at him concerned. It took him a while to see it and even then it was only by accident, but Keith was looking at him too, and that was definitely worry in his eyes. Lance felt like his skin was on fire.

Keith was concerned about Lance, worried about Lance when he was hurt or in danger. From then on it was easy for Lance to decide what to do.

If him getting in danger was the only thing that would make Keith see Lance and acknowledge him, then that was exactly what Lance was going to do.

The next time they were on a mission, it happened purely on accident. Lance and Keith were fighting galran soldiers when Keith was so engrossed in fighting the soldier in front of him that he didn’t see the one who was creeping up at him from behind.

It could be argued that Lance could have shot the soldier but Lance wasn’t thinking. He only wanted to get Keith out of there.

So he ran and pushed Keith so hard that he landed on the floor and Lance landed on top of him. And then Lance was looking into Keith’s eyes and Keith was gripping Lance’s waist.

Lance heard his blood rush in his ears, his heart thumping against his ribcage, and Keith’s warm breath fanning over his face. He was tempted to close his eyes and lean in.

Keith’s gaze wandered to his left and then his eyes widened. Lance had no time to react as Keith pushed him to his right and Lance hissed when a blade still cut his thigh. Keith picked up his bayard faster than Lance did and by the time Lance pointed his weapon at the third soldier, Keith had already killed him.

Lance froze in anticipation when Keith stomped in his direction but Keith only eyed the wound wordlessly and then helped Lance get on the castle. The whole time Lance was staring at Keith from the corner of his eyes and hoped that he would say something, but Keith only walked him to Coran and left without a word. Even after Keith had left Lance was staring at the door and only got out of his stupor when Coran cleaned the wound.

Lance was thinking about how he could make Keith talk to him the next time when Coran spoke up. “Are you alright?”

Lance looked at him for a second and only then registered his words, and nodded.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He moved his leg to prove his point. “Just stings a little.”

“I don’t mean your leg. I mean Keith.”

Lance automatically looked at the door Keith had left through again and nodded, his heart hurting a little.

“I’m fine.”

It happened after Lance woke up in the middle of the night and was sad that he woke up from his dream, in which he was cuddling with Keith on Keith’s bed and made Keith talk about what he liked about Lance - something that had also happened in real life but with less nudity - that Lance realized one thing. He loved Keith. Lance loved Keith.

Lance and Keith’s relationship had gone slow in the romantic part of it. Both of them were clumsy and inexperienced when it came to the sexual side of their relationship but also eager. It was easier to tease each other about the blushes and breathy noises and whimpers, learn what to do and what not, learn what felt good and what not when it came to sex. But the romantical part was still too new for the two of them and more embarrassing to explore. Not that neither of them had wanted it but they were hesitant to do something.

That was why they had never said those words. They weren’t together long enough to realize what those feelings were.

And now, when it was too late already, Lance was laying in his bed in the middle of the night and was crying because he hurt so much, he realized he loved Keith and that he didn’t regret that.

What he did regret was agreeing to load the castle with Keith during their visit on a planet. Everyone had looked at Lance questioningly when he had volunteered to help Keith and had let him warily. Everyone wandered off to do what they were assigned to as Keith wordlessly walked ahead of Lance to start with their work.

Lance didn’t know why he had volunteered to help Keith. Maybe he had hoped that Keith would say something to him, would maybe be forced to do so due to circumstances, but Lance only grew anxious with each second.

Lance quietly did what he was supposed to do, staring at Keith and panicking inwardly. They were almost finished with loading, only one box left that Keith bent down to pick up, when Lance couldn’t stay quiet anymore.

“I love you.”

He said it. Albeit that might not have been the right moment and came completely unprepared for both of them but Lance said it. Lance only felt relieved for one second, and then he saw Keith stiffen.

Keith let the box on the ground, straightened up and stared at Lance with an open mouth and wide eyes. During that moment Lance hoped that Keith might see that he was being foolish, had been in denial about not loving Lance too, but that bubble burst when Keith stormed past Lance without a word.

Lance’s heart sunk and he opened his mouth without saying anything. He stood there for a moment until he didn’t have enough air in his lungs anymore and inhaled shakily. He closed his eyes and grabbed the box with shaky hands to carry inside. The rest of the work Lance did on his own, fighting against the thoughts that said how stupid he was for believing that Keith would reciprocate and tried to calm down.

At least now Lance could say that he tried everything and make his peace with their broken relationship. He could try to forget it now.

In the next days, Keith was the one that couldn’t be seen anywhere while Lance was being consumed by his thoughts. He was constantly hurting and felt a deep, hollow pit in his gut. Lance was always where everyone else was, hoping he could get a glimpse of Keith but to no avail. Keith was avoiding him.

It hadn’t gotten any easier for Lance. He constantly thought about Keith and now had to deal with a bigger rejection than before.

“Lance,” Hunk whispered and shook him slightly.

Lance stared at him dazed, lost for a small moment until he remembered that he was sitting with everyone else beside Keith on the table. His gaze wandered to everyone else who were staring at him concerned, and took a deep breath.

“I told him I love him,” Lance mumbled as he stared at his plate. “And now I just want to forget him.”

Lance got up and left the dining area as everyone stared at him wordlessly. That evening Hunk, Pidge, and Coran came to Lance’s room and helped him forget about everything. Lance couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed this hard and done some nonsense with his friends. After it was past midnight and a long group hug that Lance appreciated a lot, the three spent the night in Lance’s room as Lance held Hunk’s hand to fall asleep better.

After that night Lance turned to his old self. He teased Pidge, made jokes with Coran, dragged Hunk into trouble, and flirted a lot while trying to ignore the wrenching of his heart. Most of it was a fake facade which his friends could see through, but at least it helped to create a comfortable atmosphere.

It all went down one evening when Shiro and Allura entered the common room with Keith. Lance had been warned, he had sweated about it the whole past twenty-four hours, but it still had only been four days since Lance had confessed and that was not nearly enough.

With a slight pause to it, Lance continued his impression of a whale that he was only doing because Coran had said he didn’t know those animals. Hunk laughed so hard that he snorted water on Pidge and she let one of her robot friends chase Hunk.

That night, after having said goodnight to everyone, Lance stayed awake long enough to make sure that everyone had fallen asleep and then went to the training room. He had sworn to himself not to go back to his moping and self-pitying self, which meant that he had to blow off steam in a different way.

Training in the middle of the night until he couldn’t stand anymore was that way.

Lance didn’t choose his bayard, that wasn’t how he could tire himself out, but chose a sword instead no matter how much it reminded him of Keith. He was nowhere near as good as Keith or Shiro at this but he also wasn’t as bad as everyone liked to think. He started slowly but ordered for the levels to be raised fast until his heart raced, his breath was uneven and he had difficulties avoiding the simulations attacks.

Lance tripped when he tried to avoid one of the attacks and landed on the floor, waiting for the sword to hit him. He knew it wasn’t going to kill him but the dramatic sounded appealing.

What would Keith do? he caught himself wondering.

Lance opened his eyes when instead of feeling the hit of the sword he heard metal clanging against metal, and opened his eyes. Keith fought the simulation back and then ordered for it turn off. Keith turned to Lance and anger flashed in his eyes.

Keith stomped towards Lance, kneeling down next to him, and shook him by the shoulders.

“Are you nuts? What is wrong with you?” Keith yelled at Lance.

Keith was talking to Lance. That was all Lance wanted.

What he had wanted.

Now he only wanted to be alone.

Lance pushed Keith away angrily and got to his feet. “Turn on simulation. Level three,” Lance ordered and readied himself.

The simulation appeared in front of Lance and raised its sword but Keith ordered it to turn off again.

Lance sighed and decided to call it a night, and next time to wait extra long until Keith was asleep too. Keith pushed Lance when he walked away without answering his questions.

“I am talking to you, you shithead! What’s with that sudden suicidal behaviour?”

Lance grit his teeth, made sure Keith still had his bayard in his hand and attacked him. Keith raised his sword with wide eyes and the impact of the attack made him stumble back three steps. Lance attacked again and again, Keith defended himself but not without problem, and that thought made Lance smile. He attacked Keith until he made a mistake and Keith threw him to the floor, his sword clattering as it fell on the floor, out of his reach.

Keith pressed his sword to Lance’s throat, not enough to hurt him, and was furious. “WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?”

“WHY DO YOU CARE?” Lance yelled back and raised himself a little. The sword pressed into his skin, blood coming out of the wound.

Keith threw a look at the wound and then put his bayard away. Lance tried to get up but Keith pinned him to the floor.

“We’re a team! Why wouldn’t I care about you?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you threw me away at the first chance after you were done with me.”

Keith closed his eyes and shook his head. “It wasn’t like that,” he insisted.

“Don’t lie, idiot. Just piss off!” Lance exclaimed and fought against Keith’s grip. He almost managed to escape but Keith put more pressure on Lance and pinned him down again.

“Lance, I never…”

“I LOVED YOU,” Lance screamed and successfully managed to shut Keith up. “I loved you all this time and still do, and you feel nothing for me, I get it.”

Keith shook his head again and let go off Lance. He got to his feet and went to leave but Lance gripped his ankle and threw him to the ground. He straddled Keith’s hips immediately, this time pinning Keith to the floor.

“You want me to listen but won’t listen yourself? Are you serious?”

Keith inhaled deeply and said slowly. “Let me go.”

“I love you.”

“Stop.”

“Denying it won’t change it. I’ll still love you.”

“STOP IT!” Keith yelled and fought to get free. He almost managed to get free but Lance tightened his grip around him.

“You might have some fancy techniques when it comes to fighting but I am stronger,” Lance reminded Keith and tightened his grip a little more to prove his point.

“What happened?” Keith stopped struggling when he heard how defeated Lance sounded. “You feel something too, I know it.”

Keith closed his eyes and turned his face away from Lance’s. Lance’s grip on Keith loosened, lost its harshness. Lance remembered how he had to be soft with Keith, and pressed his nose to Keith’s temple. When he started talking again his lips moved against the shell of Keith’s ear. Lance rested one of his hands on Keith’s neck and carded his other hand through Keith’s hair soothingly.

“It showed when we were in the cave. That wasn’t just lust,” Lance cooed, noticing the way Keith’s breathing turned erratic. “You have the same feelings for me that I have for you.”

Keith gasped and Lance took that as a sign to press a kiss to the shell of Keith’s ear. Lance lead his lips to Keith’s throat, his nose always touching Keith’s hot skin, and pressed a kiss to the spot where Keith’s jaw ended.

He wanted to do so much more. His mind hazy with thoughts of kissing Keith’s skin black and blue, and pressing I love you’s into it. But Lance willed all of those thoughts away, adamant about keeping this non-sexual, coaxing Keith out of his shell and finding out why he refused to admit his feelings.

“I miss you,” Lance breathed against Keith’s throat and almost gave in to his desires when Keith whimpered. Lance pulled back a little so he could look at Keith, rubbed Keith’s cheek with the back of his fingers and said. “I know you, Keith, and I know that there is a reason why you are doing this. So please talk to me.”

“You don’t know me,” Keith hissed, his body stiff.

Lance realized too late that he had said something wrong.

Keith pushed Lance off, having caught him off guard, and got up.

“You don’t know me, so don’t say that you love me.”

With that, Keith left and Lance was left to think about what Keith meant with what he said.

After that talk with Keith, Keith avoided Lance again but everything was more bearable for Lance. At least now Lance had a clue about what was going on in Keith’s head. He still didn’t know what Keith meant but he got a clue now he would surely also get another. Hopefully it wouldn’t last that long again.

Shiro pulled Lance aside after they ate breakfast to ask about Keith but Lance told him that it was fine and that they were making progress. Shiro sighed but believed him for now.

Lance didn’t seek out Keith, knew the boy needed his distance for now or he would distance himself even more. It was hard for Lance not to do so but he distracted himself.

Lance heard Keith train in the training room two days after they had fought there. He was tempted to go inside and stop Keith from exhausting himself but he let Keith be.

They were forced to see each other on the third day when they suddenly came across a galran base on a planet. It wasn’t big but more than enough to make sure that the inhabitants were terrified.

“Lance and Hunk, Keith and Pidge, go and find as many informations you can that could help us, find out what they are doing here,” Shiro ordered. “Do not engage with the enemy if you can avoid it. Informations are the most important. We’ll destroy the base once when we have that. If it’s unavoidable, fight and call for help if necessary. Always keep a cool head.”

“What about you?” Pidge asked.

“I’ll go off on my own and try to find a way how to blow up this whole thing.”

“Alone?” Hunk asked. “That’s not good. You can get captured. How do we help you then?”

Everyone started protesting, getting louder and louder.

“Guys,” Shiro interrupted their antics as loudly as he thought was possible without getting caught. “Just keep a cool head, don’t get yourself in trouble, and make it out alive. I’ll take care of myself. Now go.”

Everyone left hesitantly, not wanting to leave Shiro alone but not wanting to disobey him either. Allura might have been better suited for that job but after what had happened last time, no one wanted to let her enter a galran ship or base again.

For once Lance pushed all of the thoughts and worries clouding his mind back, and focused on the task ahead of him. Pidge and Keith went in one direction, Lance and Hunk in the other, and Shiro went ahead.

Lance and Hunk avoided being caught very well without a confrontation with soldiers, which Lance was very proud of, especially since he could see the worried looks Hunk threw at him when they got close to some soldiers. When they reached a room that looked like the control room, Lance and Hunk knocked out the soldiers in front of the room as silently as possible, hiding them, and entered the empty room.

Hunk immediately started on getting informations from the computers meanwhile Lance was keeping watch. After five minutes of silence, Lance was sure that no one was alarmed about them and joined Hunk at the computers.

“What’s taking so long?” Lance asked and eyed the information on the monitor questioningly.

“I’m not Pidge, I can’t do this as fast as her,” Hunk retorted. “But from what I could gather, this is only an average base of theirs. Doesn’t seem like they have any plans on destroying this planet yet or something else that is just as bad.”

“Then put a virus on these computers and leave.”

Hunk looked at Lance as if he had lost it and repeated. “Like I said, I’m not Pidge. I can’t do that.”

Lance groaned. “Then let’s do it Lance style.”

“Wait, Lance. No.”

Lance ignored Hunk’s protests and pointed his bayard at the computers, firing off multiple times. Hunk winced as the computers made loud noises and when Lance was finished he blew off some imaginary smoke from his bayard. The smug smirk on Lance’s face was wiped off when an alarm went off and he groaned.

“Wow. Great, Lance. Now you did what Shiro told us not to do,” Hunk said.

Before Lance could argue how he was supposed to know that an alarm would go off, the alarm caught their attention.

“Intruders in sector B. All forces immediately hurry to sector B.”

With a look towards each other, Lance asked. “Isn’t that where Keith and Pidge went?”

“Uh-huh,” Hunk mumbled and nodded.

Lance’s heart sank and both of them immediately dashed off to sector B. Lance cursed Keith off, knowing that this must have been his fault, and urged himself to run faster. They met no one on their way to sector B and when they reached it, they found out why. It seemed as if all soldiers of the base had gathered there and surrounded Keith and Pidge.

Keith and Pidge were standing in the middle of the circle, they bayards raised for defense but they were at a clear disadvantage. One of the galran was talking to Keith.

“Surrender and tell us where the rest of you are and nothing will happen, especially to you.”

Lance had to time to think about what that meant. Hunk and Lance nodded in silent agreement and then started firing at the soldiers from behind. Odds were on their side. They managed to kill multiple soldiers before anyone could react properly and until then Keith and Pidge had attacked too.

Chaos ensued but it was easy for the paladins to protect each other from any harm, like they had learned in their training with Coran. When suddenly Shiro appeared out nowhere, it got even easier for them since they now had someone who gave them commands. As the limbs of Shiro, the rest of the paladins worked the best.

From the corner of his eyes Lance saw Keith attack the galran commander, who Lance now recognized as commander Thace from last time, and cursed. He tried to get to Keith but was held back from doing so when he saw Pidge struggle with three soldiers. He turned back around in time to see Keith run after the commander down a corridor.

“I’ll go help Keith,” Lance yelled after he made sure that the rest could handle the situation in sector B.

He heard Shiro protest but ignored it, wondering how he would reach Keith. He almost went down the wrong turn but heard the fighting noises in time, and turned around.

“What’s keeping you with the paladins? Join us,” Thace was saying while Keith eyed him warily, his sword raised. “You can’t defeat Zarkon.”

“Yes, we can,” Lance interfered and pointed his bayard at Thace, slowly walking closer. “That’s why Zarkon is so afraid of Voltron.”

Thace pointed at Lance with his sword and said to Keith. “He is the reason why you won’t join us, right? Let’s get rid off him first then.”

“NO!” Keith screamed, which sounded more like a growl, as Thace attacked Lance.

Lance was ready to shoot Thace but his shot missed when Keith suddenly pushed him out of the way. Lance hissed as his left arm was crushed under his weight but didn’t allow himself time to inspect his wrist. He turned around, his bayard raised already so he could should the instant he found his target but halted when he saw two galras.

Lance watched in confusion as Thace and the other galra in Keith’s paladin costume were fighting each other. He didn’t know what to make of that and wondered where Keith had gone off to.

Lance got to his feet, unsure who to attack and who to support. His eyes connected with the galra in Keith’s paladin costume and his heart sank with realization as he recognized Keith. It was difficult to see but that clearly was Keith. Lance was shocked and Keith horrified.

Keith was suddenly thrown to the floor by Thace, which woke up Lance from his trance. With shaky hands Lance raised his bayard and shot Thace in time before he could sink his sword at Keith.

Thace fell to the floor and remained unmoving. Lance rushed to Keith but was uncertain about what to do for a second. Had the galras managed to capture Keith and smuggle one of them dressed as Keith between them? But if that were the case then one of them would have noticed, and if not them then the red lion would have noticed for sure.

Lance shook off all the doubts after he looked at Keith and saw him, his Keith, and offered him a shaky hand. His jaw fell in surprise when Keith slapped his hand away.

“Stay away from me,” Keith snapped and crawled away from Lance as if Lance had suddenly turned into a galra and not him.

Lance shook off the confusion and eyed Thace laying next to them. “We have to leave, Keith. Now!”

Lance put a hand on Keith’s arm but was shaken off again. Lance looked around to check whether or not someone was coming and then took a moment to inspect Keith. He was shaking, breathing coming out fast and ragged, and he looked terrified.

Lance knelt next to Keith, making sure he gave Keith enough space, and spoke calmly. “We need to leave, Keith. It’s dangerous here and everyone is waiting for us to come back. Come on.”

Keith eyed Lance’s hand that he was holding out for Keith to take. Lance thought it was a progress that Keith didn’t push it away.

“What happened to you, Keith?”

“I-I can’t breathe,” Keith choked out.

Lance took a seat next to Keith, just now the thought of Keith having a panic attack crossing his mind.

“Okay, concentrate on what I say,” Lance spoke up. “Breathe in and out with me. In…and out… In…and out… You’re fine. You’re okay. Nothing is going to happen to you. In…and out…”

Keith managed to get his breathing under control, the shaking subsided too, and Lance witnessed how the purple fur on Keith’s skin was slowly replaced by his usual human skin.

Lance slowly held out his hand again and whispered. “Let’s go.”

Keith hesitantly put his hand into Lance’s and let Lance help him get to his feet. Neither of them let go as they ran back where the rest of the paladins were. They ran into them halfway, everyone stunned into silence when they saw their intertwined hands. Automatically Lance tried to let go of Keith’s hand but Keith only tightened his grip on Lance’s hand. So Lance squeezed Keith’s hand back in reassurance.

“Let’s go before something happens,” Shiro ordered and went ahead.

The rest of the paladins followed him and they made it out with only one more confrontation. After the paladins put enough distance between them and the galran base, Pidge pressed a button on a device and the galran base blew up. They waited for a moment to watch and then ran again.

Just as they made it into the castle successfully and unharmed, Keith was already dragging Lance to his room. Lance let himself be dragged away, ignored the concerned gazes of the others since this meant that Keith wanted to talk and Lance was ready to listen.

The door closed behind Lance and Keith let go of his hand. Just now Lance noticed how stiff his fingers were and he moved them to get rid off the stiffness.

It took a while for Keith to speak and when he did, it wasn’t what Lance had expected. “Don’t tell anyone about what happened, about me.”

“You mean about you being able to turn into a galra?” Lance asked just to make sure, the way how Keith winced didn’t go unnoticed by him.

“Yes.”

“Why did that happen? Since when do you know about this?”

“That’s none of your business. Stay out of it,” Keith snapped.

“If you want me to stay quiet about it then you need to answer my questions,” Lance argued. “Why did this happen?”

It was quiet for a moment, Lance could see the inner struggle going on in Keith’s mind and waited patiently. Then Keith’s shoulder sagged.

“I don’t know,” he retorted.

“Since how long do you know about this?”

Keith seemed to want to tell off Lance again but decided against it. “I noticed that something was wrong before our fight with Zarkon and during it. After we were separated in that black hole I once had a confrontation with commander Thace and turned into a full galra like today. It seems to happen when I am angry. Calming down again helps me get my body under control again.”

“Is that why commander Thace was telling you to join them?” Lance asked, remembering their conversation.

“Yes.”

Lance opened his mouth to ask why he never told anyone about this when he finally put all the pieces together and was enlightened. Instead of asking his initial question he asked. “Does that have anything to do with why you broke up with me?”

Keith’s eyes widened slightly and his hands curled to fists. He bit his lower lip and before he could say anything Lance spoke up again.

“Don’t lie. Please don’t lie about this,” Lance pleaded.

Keith closed his mouth and then simply nodded. Lance sighed and shook his head, trying not to lose his temper.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” he inquired.

“What was I supposed to say? ‘Hey guys, I suddenly found out I can turn into a galra.’ Am I a human? Am I a galra? Or both? I don’t know anything,” Keith said, agitated.

“We could have helped figure that out. We could have asked Allura. And that doesn’t mean that you get to decide over our relationship on your own. You should have talked to me. You still have feelings for me.”

“I don’t.”

“Don’t lie!” Lance exclaimed. He knew that screaming now wouldn’t solve anything but he couldn’t help himself.

“I am not lying!” Keith insisted.

“Then what about what happened in the cave?” Lance interrogated and took a step towards Keith. “What about the other day? Is that what you meant when you said that I didn’t know you?”

“I was obviously right.”

“Oh Keith, please. A little purple fur doesn’t change who you are and it certainly doesn’t change anything about how I feel about you.”

Lance took a step towards Keith and Keith took one step backwards. Lance waited for a second in confusion and then closed the distance between them. Keith’s eyes widened and he froze.

“What are you afraid of?” Lance cooed. “What is so bad about me touching you?”

Lance stepped closer to Keith, cursed when their uniform got in the way, but lead his one hand to Keith’s waist and let the other rest on his neck.

“Talk to me, Keith.”

Keith looked into Lance’s eyes, which were filled with fright and horror. Then he shook his head and used surprise to his advantage to push Lance out of his room. In the hallway, Lance landed on his butt and looked up at Keith confused.

“Don’t talk to me,” Keith snapped before he closed the door.

Lance sighed but was determined to make this work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it, even though I wanted this to be the end of it. Give me enough strength to write the third part.
> 
> tumblr: @mitaki


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I told you I’m not interested in dating you again. Lance, you-”
> 
> Lance immediately interrupted Keith when he realized where this was going. “I know. I’m just here because I thought that you might need a friend. That’s all what I’m here for.” Lance sighed when Keith looked as if he wasn’t convinced. “You don’t love me. Okay, I won’t bother you anymore about that, and I’m sorry about practically forcing myself on you this whole time, but I realized that not having you in my life hurts more than you not being my boyfriend. And I also realized that I’ve been very selfish, been a bad teammate, and a worse friend this whole time, so I want to make it up to you.” Lance extended a hand towards Keith and asked. “Friends?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally back from the dead with the last chapter of this. Hope you are happy with it. Don't be too harsh on me.

By some magical trick, or maybe fate was just on Lance’s side for a change - or maybe the fact that it was Shiro - Keith wasn’t able to avoid Lance any longer.

After Lance had calmed down from his and Keith’s conversation and gotten back to the rest of the group, everyone had been staring at Lance expectantly. Lance wanted to explain, he didn’t want to lie to them, and leave them this clueless, but this wasn’t his secret to share. And if he told them Keith’s secret then Keith would never talk to Lance again. Lance was sure that everything would work out, everyone would accept Keith, and then Keith would see that he had been worrying uselessly, but that wasn’t the right way.

So Lance had only smiled at them and said. “It’s only going to get better from here. Just a little patience.”

That was easier said than done.

That night Lance lay awake in his bed late after midnight and tried to come up with a solution. Keith worried that his own friends wouldn’t accept him, that they would abandon him because he was half galran. That thought was stupid.

Lance had to admit that galras had a bad reputation and that so far he hadn’t ever met a nice galra, but that didn’t mean that Keith was like them. It didn’t change the fact that without Keith there was no hope for this universe.

That was what Lance had to make Keith see.

It was now three days later and Keith couldn’t avoid Lance. That didn’t mean he was forced to talk to Lance. Keith followed Shiro around like a lost puppy and never left his side. Shiro, happy about the change in character Keith was showing, gladly let Keith tag along to everything that he had to do. Shiro looked at Lance apologetically when he saw Lance staring at him and Keith.

Now, there had been a time Lance had wondered if Keith had a crush on Shiro. Hell, he even wondered if he himself had a crush on Shiro and came to the conclusion that he had, but that it wasn’t more than that. Lance hadn’t come to the same conclusion when it came to Keith but had stopped thinking about that after they had started dating officially.

With a big gasp, that scared Hunk and made him worry about Lance’s sanity, Lance turned to Hunk and shook him by the shoulders.

“What if he doesn’t love me because he loves Shiro? Since obviously Shiro is so perfect and Keith only deserves that,” Lance wheezed dramatically.

“Didn’t we have that talk already?” Hunk asked slowly. “And didn’t you say that Keith never denied loving you, which means that he does love you and not Shiro?”

Okay, maybe Lance hadn’t kept his mouth shut about the smaller but more important details of his and Keith’s talk that day.

“Right,” Lance said more to himself than Hunk, and then shook him again. “Help meeeeeeee.”

Hunk took Lance’s wrists in his hands to stop the risk of getting a concussion. “Didn’t you say that Keith was going through something?”

“Yes.”

“Then maybe you should help him solve that.”

“No, shit, dude. You say.”

“I have a feeling you’re being sarcastic,” Hunk said and eyed Lance betrayed.

“I know that already but how do I help him?” Lance asked.

“You mean Keith?” Pidge asked as she approached them.

“Yes.”

“Well, I think he stays away from you because you want to be his boyfriend again and he thinks that’s why you’re always approaching him. But maybe he needs a friend right now more than a boyfriend. If that problem is also what keeps him from becoming your boyfriend again, then maybe you need to solve that problem first and then become his boyfriend again.”

Lance stared at Pidge with wonder in his eyes, mouth agape.

“Since when have you been this wise?” Lance asked and Pidge pinched the fat under his arm.

Lance yelped, barely managed to save himself and not make Hunk fall over. Pidge walked over to Shiro and Keith, and left Lance to think about her words.

Pidge’s words made Lance rethink the whole situation. With that new and better perspective Lance realized how selfish he had been. Keith had been hurting all this time, even after Lance found out the reason, and all Lance had been thinking about was his unrequited love.

He had to talk to Keith, and that as fast as possible.

Lance’s chance came two days later. He saw Keith in front of his room and decided on the whim that the perfect time to talk to Keith would be now. It was kind of now or never.

“Hey, Keith!” Lance called out before Keith could disappear into his room.

Keith visibly stiffened when he recognized Lance’s voice but waited for Lance to catch up. He didn’t meet Lance’s eyes when the boy stood in front of him.

“Yes?”

“Can we talk?”

Keith tensed up even more, closing his eyes and cursing silently. He forced himself to look up at Lance who was staring at him with hopeful eyes; a look Lance always had used to make Keith do what he wanted.

“Yes?” Keith asked and folded his arms over his chest.

“Uuuh, maybe somewhere more private?” Lance asked and side eyed Keith’s room.

Since they were standing right in front of Keith’s room, and since Keith was still pretending as if everything was fine and he wasn’t ignoring Lance shamelessly, he sighed and nodded. He walked in first and let Lance begrudgingly enter after him. Lance was anxious and nervous. He hoped he wouldn’t mess this up.

“How long is this going to take?”

“Wow, rude much.”

“Lance,” Keith said in a warning tone.

“Okay, okay. I’m here to make up.”

“I told you I’m not interested in dating you again. Lance, you-”

Lance immediately interrupted Keith when he realized where this was going. “I know. I’m just here because I thought that you might need a friend. That’s all what I’m here for.” Lance sighed when Keith looked as if he wasn’t convinced. “You don’t love me. Okay, I won’t bother you anymore about that, and I’m sorry about practically forcing myself on you this whole time, but I realized that not having you in my life hurts more than you not being my boyfriend. And I also realized that I’ve been very selfish, been a bad teammate, and a worse friend this whole time, so I want to make it up to you.” Lance extended a hand towards Keith and asked. “Friends?”

Keith eyed Lance’s hand warily, seeming uncertain about what to do. Lance saw all the doubt on his face. He was sure that Keith thought that this wouldn’t work out. Hell, not even he was sure this would work out but he was going to try everything there was to make it work. Keith stared at Lance, and then he hesitantly took Lance’s hand and gave it a firm squeeze.

“Friends,” he repeated, nodding.

The next day when everyone was sitting at the dinner table for breakfast, Lance casually asked for the water jug and Keith handed it to him.

“Thanks, Mullet-boy.”

“Shut up.”

It took Lance a while to notice that everyone had gone quiet. When Lance looked up, he saw that everyone was staring at him and Keith and that Keith was getting more and more uncomfortable by each second.

Lance put on a smirk, stared at Allura, and asked in the most annoying voice he could muster up. “Like what you see?”

Allura stared at him dumbfounded and then snorted, picking up her conversation with Shiro where it had been left off. Hunk stole something from Pidge’s plate and Lance made sure not to look at Keith. He wasn’t able to avoid Coran’s knowing look though.

Things took their flow from then. Slowly Keith and Lance got into their dynamics from before they started dating and their friends joined too. They had their questions but didn’t voice them in fear of ruining what they had gained.

Not everything went that smoothly though.

Sometimes Keith and Lance would stare at each other just a little too long to be considered normal, their touches lingered a little too long to be considered friendly, and their fights too tense to be considered bickering.

“You still love him, don’t you?” Hunk asked one day.

Coran looked at Lance, who was watching Shiro and Keith train, and Lance sighed.

“We’re friends. That’s more than I can ask for.”

“Can you live like that forever?”

“I have to.”

Hunk clapped on Lance’s back and said. “I’m here for you buddy. I’m here.”

Moments turned into days, and more often than not did Lance realize from time to time that he still loved Keith but he loved seeing Keith blossom and come back to life even more. In the not so rare moments when Lance became too selfish, when he was yet again too close to Keith and thoughts of kissing Keith, holding Keith, having Keith jumbled his mind, then he questioned why he never pursued Keith. But he knew why. Keith never let him forget why.

Everything that he and Keith did together was as friends. They ate together, laughed together, fought together as friends. Nothing more. They even trained together as friends. Just like now.

Lance widened the gap between his feet to have a better support. Keith continued to push Lance, trying to make him fall. Both of them were panting hard, sweat trickling down their faces. If Lance weren’t so occupied by the thought of winning, he would have lost himself in Keith’s beauty a long time ago, especially since neither of them had their jackets on and Keith looked stunning in black.

Lance cursed as he realized that he had no choice but to let Keith push him back. It was a risk, but the chance of winning was worth taking that risk. So Lance let go. Keith was surprised by suddenly losing Lance’s weight that he used as a support and stumbled forward a little. Lance used that small loss of balance to his advantage. He managed to grip Keith’s bicep with one hand; Keith was desperately holding on to his other hand, and hooked his leg behind Keith’s to push him to the floor. Thanks to Keith’s grip on Lance, Lance fell too; half on top of Keith and half on the floor.

“I win,” Lance panted with a smirk.

Keith pushed Lance off of himself, and stared at the ceiling. Their chests were falling up and down rapidly, lungs desperately trying to get in as much air as possible, breaths loud. If lance closed his eyes and concentrated on the sound of their pants, the smell of their sweat, and the heat of their bodies, then he could almost lose himself in believing that this was a repetition of that one night where they had exhausted each other like this but with sex. They had both been curious. They had managed to get into a challenge of who had more stamina, and almost managed to get Voltron destroyed during their training the next day. Shiro actually had forbidden them from going more than two rounds every second night after that, which was a very embarrassing situation.

“You’ve gotten better,” Keith said after he calmed down a little, successfully ripping Lance out of that memory.

Of course Lance had. Keith refused to spar with anyone else as seriously as he did with Lance. He was afraid that if the fight got too serious he would lose control and in the heat of the moment would turn into a galra. Lance had seen the moments how Keith’s skin turned purple at some spots when their fights got too serious. The first time it happened, Lance got so distracted by it that if Keith hadn’t noticed Lance’s distraction in the last minute, then he would have seriously hurt Lance with his sword.

“Well, I have trained more in the last couple of days than anyone else because a certain someone only wants to train with me,” Lance retorted.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, but you should train with Shiro and the others too. They’re worried about you.” Keith didn’t answer so Lance opted for changing the topic. “You’re stronger as a galra, right?”

Keith snapped his head towards Lance so fast Lance was worried he might pull a muscle.

“Can you not talk about this so loud?” Keith hissed.

“No one’s here. Relax.”

Keith sighed but answered Lance’s question. “Yes, for some reason I am.” He was silent for a moment but then added in a small voice. “Do You remember when we fought Zarkon for the first time and I attacked him?” Lanced hummed. “He said that I fought like a galra. As far as I know, I’ve never met a galra before I saw Voltron. I most certainly wasn’t trained by one, so how could I fight like one?”

“Maybe it’s just natural to you, like breathing.”

“Maybe, yeah.”

Keith folded his arms behind his head and rested it on them. Lance purposely didn’t look at Keith when he said. “Still have no plans of telling the others?”

Keith stiffened but shook his head. “No.”

“Why not? They could help you. There is so much we should find out about you.”

“I’m not your stupid experiment,” Keith sneered and left.

Lance sighed but followed Keith. This time he was not going to let the discussion stop until they had talked this out.

“I’m not saying that you are,” Lance said as he stormed after Keith. “But we need to find that out.”

“No we don’t. Stay out of this.”

“For how long are you going to keep running away from this? Do you never ask yourself where you come from? Doesn’t this explain why you were alone on earth.”

“STOP!” Keith screamed as he turned towards Lance. “Just stop.”

“Not anymore, Keith. We’re going to talk about this now. For your own good.”

Keith groaned but continued his race to his room. Before Keith could continue the trip to his room, Lance opened the door to his own room and dragged Keith in. Well, at least now no one could hear the two of them now.

“Why are you doing this to yourself?” Lance asked, blocking the way to the door. “We’re your friends. Everyone will accept you. No one will hold this against you.”

Although Keith was standing with his back towards Lance, Lance could see how much he was shaking. For a second Lance regretted mentioning the topic, wanted to take it back, and comfort Keith, but when he heard all the suppressed feelings in Keith’s voice, he knew something had to be done.

“Stop, okay? Please just stop. Please,” Keith begged.

Lance closed his eyes, swallowing the metallic taste in his mouth. With a deep exhale, he tried to gather as much courage as possible. “We need to solve this now. You can’t go on lying to everyone forever.”

“WHY?” Keith thundered.

He faced Lance and Lance immediately saw the purple spots appearing all over Keith skin. Keith seemed to have noticed them too because in the next second he was staring at his arms and started shaking uncontrollably. He stepped back, bumping into the table and pushing the lamp off it.

“Keith, hey,” Lance cooed and tried to get a hold of Keith. “Relax. It’s fine. You’re fine.”

Keith pushed Lance off of him and in a swift motion fully turned into his galran self, his shirt ripping into the process as he grew bigger and taller. Lance only watched as it happened for the first time right in front of his eyes; this time his full attention on Keith.

“What do you think Shiro will see when he looks at me? What do you think Allura and Coran will see when they look at me? And Pidge?” Keith asked, his yellow eyes full of pain. “They will see someone who tortured him for years, someone who destroyed everything they had, someone who maybe killed her father and brother.”

“Do you want to know what I see when I look at you?” Lance asked, facing Keith. “I see someone who saved Shiro from getting tortured even more when he came back to earth. I see someone who is the paladin of the red lion, and is helping the universe from getting destroyed and go through the same pain Allura and Coran had to. I see someone who is helping his friend find her father and brother.”

Keith looked away from Lance, no longer being able to hold his gaze. Lance wouldn’t have that and sat in front of Keith, cupping his cheeks, having to stand on his tiptoes a little. Hesitantly, Keith looked at Lance through his eyelashes.

“I see someone who I deeply love and cherish,” Lance muttered and watched Keith’s eyes widen.

Lance’s gaze lowered to Keith’s lips and he didn’t hesitate for a second to lean in. He sputtered when he was pushed away and watched Keith confused.

“Are you nuts? How can you want to kiss me?” Keith exclaimed, but sounded more confused and lost than angry.

“Because I love you.”

Keith groaned and turned away from Lance. He put a hand on the wall to support himself and weakly punched the wall with his other hand.

“How can you say that?” Keith sounded pathetic when he asked.

“Because it’s true,” Lance responded and slowly approached Keith.

“Aren’t you disgusted by me?”

Lance thought about how weak and hurt Keith’s voice sounded, how defeated he looked, and how Keith still thought about Lance while he was going through something so big. Lance wrapped his arms around Keith’s torso, Keith immediately stiffening, and put his temple on Keith’s back.

“I love you,” Lance cood.

“Stop,” Keith gasped.

“I love you so much.”

Lance unwillingly let Keith free himself from his grasp but followed closely as Keith walked to the other side of the room again.

“I don’t deserve love, kindness, or tenderness. Especially from you,” Keith insisted, sounding pained.

“You deserve so much more than I can give you,” Lance whispered and didn’t let Keith’s wide and surprised eyes stop him. “I know that I don’t deserve you, that I am not worthy of you, but I would love to get a chance to show you how much I love you.”

Lance looked at Keith’s conflicted expression, his yellow eyes and purple fur, the big, purple ears, and despite all the changes Lance still only saw his Keith.

“You are not evil,” Lance whispered. He took a step towards Keith and cupped his cheeks. “You are not the evil deeds that the other galras did. You are not a galra who does evil things. You are a boy who is going to save this universe. You are the guardian spirit of fire, paladin of the red lion, and an awesome friend, who we all would give up our lives for. You are loved and not alone.”

Keith took a shaky breath and closed his eyes. Lance removed his hands from Keith’s face and watched silently as Keith tried to stop the shaking and calm down. Keith opened his eyes, stared at his purple hands and then sighed.

“I can’t calm down. I don’t know how to turn back,” Keith mumbled and Lance understood.

“You can sleep here,” Lance offered and tried his hardest to hold Keith’s gaze. “I can sleep on the ground. You take the bed.”

“No!” Keith cringed when he suddenly exclaimed and then continued quieter. “Please stay with me.”

Despite being almost a head taller than Lance, Keith looked so small as he was standing there and avoiding Lance’s gaze. Lance took a deep breath and then nodded.

“Okay. Let’s go to sleep.”

Lance climbed under the covers first, always having preferred to sleep at the side of the wall and then Keith lay next to him. They shuffled around a little bit, the bed that was already too small for two was now even smaller because of Keith’s galran body. They settled on spooning, neither of the boys wanting to sleep on the floor without the other so none of them offered again. It was unusual for Lance to sleep as the little spoon but he soon fell asleep.

When Lance woke up the next morning Keith was already awake and Lance caught him staring. Keith flushed a deep red and averted his gaze. Lance wanted to tease him but he let it be for the sake of the progress they had gone through.

“You’re back to human, I see,” Lance said, voice groggy.

Keith nodded and muttered. “Yeah, must have happened while we were asleep.”

“Did you ever turn into a galra in your sleep?”

“Yeah, remember the morning I refused to come out of my room? It was because it took me a long time to turn back.”

“Did you ever learn to control it?” Lance asked, absentmindedly running his fingers through Keith’s hair.

Keith shook his head. “No, yesterday was the first time I willingly turned into a galra, and even then I didn’t control it fully. The other times it happened accidentally.”

“What if you try to control it? That would be much more convenient. I want to see how much better of a fighter you are when you’re in your galra form.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Keith admitted.

“Why not?”

“I am kind of afraid I won’t be able to turn back into a human.”

Lance pushed himself up from where he had been laying, his hand coming to a rest on top of Keith’s head. “Then we need to find out what calms you down and you need to have those things with you every time you try to control it.”

Lance’s breath stopped in surprise when Keith gripped the front of his shirt and buried his face in his hand, asking. “Can you be there too? I think I can be more calm with you there.”

Lance slowly took a deep breath, tried not to interpret too much into Keith’s question, and gulped the lump in his throat. “Of course,” he squeaked and cleared his throat, embarrassed. “I’ll be there.”

Keith’s fist on Lance’s shirt tightened. Lance ruffled Keith’s hair softly and pat his other hand on Keith’s bare arm. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he cooed.

Keith shook his head but remained as stiff as he was. It took Keith a while to relax, for his features to soften and shoulders to sag. Lance was staring at him the whole time, his hand in Keith’s hair never coming to a stop. Lance inhaled deeply when his gut clenched and tried not to get too excited.

This is not right, he reprimanded himself, this is not what you should be thinking about. Keith is your friend now. Don’t fuck this up. Lance averted his gaze from Keith’s peaceful face and chuckled when his gaze landed on Keith’s torn shirt on the ground.

“What’s wrong?” Keith asked.

Lance looked at Keith, his breath being taken away by how innocent Keith looked as he looked up at Lance, and Lance had to remind himself again that this was just platonic.

“I can’t believe you tore apart your shirt and basically also your pants.”

Keith flushed in embarrassment but a defiant look appeared on his face. “I can’t control this. I didn’t intend for it to happen.” Keith almost sounded petulant.

“I know,” Lance said and after a while added. “Hulk.”

Keith’s jaw dropped in indignation and Lance laughed harder.

“That’s not funny.”

“It kinda is.”

“That’s it,” Keith declared and got to his feet. “I’m going.”

Lance laughed harder and pointed at Keith. “Like that?”

Keith looked down on himself, seeing his half naked state and flushed. He wished they were in his room and not Lance’s but then again there wouldn’t have been any need for them to spend the night together if Keith would have transformed in his own room.

Keith huffed and blew away the strands of hair that were covering his eyes. He glared at Lance until the latter stopped laughing and got to his feet too.

“Okay, I’ll stop. I’m sorry. Here,” Lance walked to his closet and took out a pair of jeans and a shirt he knew Keith liked a lot. “Take this.”

Lance handed the clothes to Keith and then proceeded to go to the bathroom so Keith would have some privacy while he changed. When Lance entered the room again, seeing Keith in his shirt again reminded him of the time when Keith had worn nothing but that shirt the night they had spent together. Lance changed his clothes too and waited for Keith to finish in the bathroom so they could walk out together. Keith was pushing Lance away because of a corny joke he made when they met Shiro. Shiro immediately stopped walking when he saw them, and the two of them stopped too.

“Good morning, sexy pants,” Lance said because suddenly he felt anxious. Caution was never a bad thing when it came to Shiro.

Keith looked at Lance while Shiro remained as calm as ever. Shiro’s eyes wandered up and down Keith’s body, taking in the sight of him in Lance’s clothes, and made Keith avert his gaze.

“I’ll change and then come for breakfast,” Keith told Lance and disappeared in the direction of his room.

Lance tried to walk past Shiro but Shiro stopped him. “Did you spend the night together?”

“If by together you mean in the same room where we just talked and did nothing besides that and sleeping, then yes. We did,” Lance answered.

“Lance, you should be careful. We care about Keith but we also care about you. Don’t hurt yourself.”

“This isn’t about me. I want to help Keith and that is what I am trying to do. Let’s go eat breakfast.”

Lance and Shiro walked to the kitchen together. Lance tried his hardest to go on with his routine and not let Shiro unnerve him, but that was hard with Shiro. He knew Shiro only wanted what was best for Lance and Keith but he had to realize that he had to stay out of this one if he wanted the best case scenario to happen. Lance only had to find a way to make Shiro realize that.

When Keith entered the room he had his own clothes and jacket on and gave Lance his jacket. Lance thanked him and turned his attention back to Hunk who had been in the middle of retelling his dream. It took Lance a moment to realize that Hunk was stunned into silence by the scene that had played out in front of him. Pidge was staring too. Lance saw Keith stiffen next to him and spoke up fast before the situation could get any worse. “You fell from the building and then what?”

Hunk looked at him confused and then continued talking. Lance needed to have a serious conversation with his teammates about stopping to make such a big fuss about him and Keith. To add to that chaos, Lance just noticed what big mistake he did when he repeatedly confessed his love to Keith the night before. Lance had messed up royally. It would be a miracle if Keith continued being his friend.

Lance found a way to get Keith out of the room by telling him that he had covered Red in toilet paper. The furious look on Keith’s face almost made Lance rethink but he was sure he could calm Keith down once Keith saw that it was a lie. Keith stormed out of the room after threatening to do the same to Blue.

“Lance, you shouldn’t-” Shiro started but Lance interrupted him.

“Shut up.”

Everyone was instantly stunned into silence. No one had ever said something like that to Shiro, and Lance was sure if Keith were here he would have punched Lance. Pidge took that upon herself.

“Stop, okay? Just stop.”

“Stop with what, Lance?” Allura asked.

“Stop looking at Keith and me. Stop analyzing us, and stop acting as if us interacting is finally the end of Zarkon’s reign.”

“We just don’t know what to think of it,” said Pidge.

“Do you think anything of mine and Hunk’s friendship? Or mine and Shiro’s? No! Then why mine and Keith’s?”

“I don’t think you can compare those two;” Hunk chimed in, “You and Keith used to date.”

“Yeah ‘used to’,” Lance said and put quotation marks in the air, “Past tense. It’s in the past so please let it be there. The whole relationship thing is throwing Keith off and it’ll make him distance himself. We’re friends now. No one wants to be in a relationship.”

“Really?” Shiro inquired. “You don’t?”

Lance gritted his teeth. “That doesn’t matter because a relationship isn’t possible so it isn’t important. I just want to be Keith’s friend so stop ruining everything.”

Shiro sighed and everyone averted their gazes. It was obvious they didn’t want to agree to this but Lance had to convince them.

“Listen, Keith is going through something that is far more important than a relationship. He wants to concentrate on that and I do too. So, please. Stop with the relationship thing.”

“But what can be so important that you’re willing to give up on the possibility of dating Keith?” Coran spoke up, and to be honest, Lance was kind of afraid of that question. Giving them an answer that was satisfying and would respect Keith’s secrecy was hard.

“I can’t tell you that,” Lance said after thinking about it for a while. “Keith doesn’t want you to know and if that’s what he wants then I will support him. You all should wait for him to tell you on his own accord. I found out by accident.”

“Lance,” Shiro said but Lance interrupted him again.

“Please. Just be patient.”

Everyone sighed and shoulders sagged but they agreed nonetheless. Lance nodded gratefully. He finished his food and started up a conversation because the group had to seem normal when Keith returned. Which never happened. Lance became worried and went to look for him. He went to Keith’s room first, knocking but not getting an answer. Then he went to the training deck and couldn’t find Keith there either. He even went to his own room to check. When Lance went to where the Red lion was kept, he immediately saw Keith sitting on the floor in front of Red instead of inside. Keith looked up when he heard Lance approach and averted his gaze back to Red.

“What are you doing here?” Lance asked in a cheerful tone, hoping he was only imagining the gloomy atmosphere.

“You always find me, don’t you?” Keith asked.

Lance didn’t know what that meant so he decided to play safe. “Nah, remember how long it took the whole team to find each other after we were sucked into that wormhole? That was an adventure.” Then he grew a little quiet as he added. “I’m sorry about the prank though. You have to admit it was a good one.”

“Red would have killed you. I should’ve known it was a lie.”

“Well, we all know you’re not the brightest.”

Keith nudged Lance’s shoulder with his own in a silent protest. The two of them stayed quiet for a moment until Keith said. “I’m thinking about telling Shiro.”

Lance almost asked Keith what he meant, what he wanted to tell Shiro, but he realized it fast enough. He didn’t know how to feel about that. He had been the one to urge Keith to tell the others but now it only made his heart sink.

For the sake of Keith, Lance forced himself to say. “If you feel like telling Shiro is too hard we can tell Hunk first. You know how nice he is, and he’s actually more of a neutral party and not full of influencing experiences.”

Keith shook his head, not looking at Lance. “Telling Hunk isn’t as big of a breakthrough as telling Shiro. I don’t think my need of telling someone will be satisfied by telling Hunk. Shiro is the most understanding of us and lest possible to get swept away by his emotions.”

“Do you want me to be there?”

Keith shook his head again. “I should do that on my own. I can’t rely on you for everything.”

That was what Lance had been afraid of; of being replaced and not needed anymore by Keith. He tried to not let that irritate him as he said, “You can rely on me. That’s fine. That’s what friends are here for.”

For the time the word 'friend’ left a bitter taste on his tongue. Lance wondered if Keith would deny Lance the right to be there for him if he were his boyfriend.

Keith smiled sadly but didn’t add anything. Lance remained quiet too because he didn’t know what to do next, if he even had the right to tell Keith to stay. Lance was afraid that Keith would turn away from him if he told Shiro. Of course the revelation that Keith was half galra would be shocking to Shiro but he would definitely accept Keith. Shiro was just like that. And if you had Shiro on your side, then what need was there for someone like Lance?

But for some reason that never happened. Keith spent just as much time with Lance as he used to and never mentioned the incident where Lance had tried to kiss him. Sometimes he would space out and needed to be woken up from daydreams but he stayed close to Lance. In that moment, Lance was in Keith’s room and they were trying to work on Keith’s shifting.

“What usually happened when you turned into your galra form?” Lance asked from where he was sitting on Keith’s bed.

“I was attacked and there were galras. That one time it happened in my dream I was in the same circumstances,” Keith answered.

“Well, we can’t do that.”

“No shit.”

“Hey.” Lance frowned. “Don’t sass the one who’s helping you.”

“Fine.”

“Then let’s concentrate on how you felt during those moments.”

“I was stressed, angry, frustrated.”

“Why is your shifting connected to negative feelings?” Lance inquired.

“Because it is. It happens when I get out of control.”

“So you need to get angry to shift? Try it.”

“I can’t just get angry. It doesn’t work like that.”

“What if attack you?” Lance asked and got up.

“How would that make me angry?” Keith questioned, arms crossed over his chest and hip cocked to one side.

“Oh, I think getting your ass beaten by your rival is gonna make you angry.”

Keith snorted and shook his head. “Starting with your imaginary rivalry again?”

“Afraid?” Lance asked with a smirk and invaded Keith’s private space.

There was a glint in Keith’s eyes, and by now Lance knew him well enough to know that Keith was going to attack, which he did. Lance easily dodged the attack, and tried to punch Keith. Lance knew that Keith was better in combat fighting. Everyone knew. But Lance only needed to corner Keith and he would win. They continued like that, none of them ever landing a real hit because it had turned into something playful. They threw clothes, pillows, and other soft objects at each. Keith picked up one of the towels and hit Lance on his butt with it. Keith only laughed at the indignant yelp Lance let out.

“So that’s how it is,” said Lance before he just charged at Keith. His foot got tangled in the blanket and he was falling. He saw the moment Keith’s eyes widened in realization, nothing compared to the shock displayed on Lance’s face, and then he was right there, catching Lance. Keith had miscalculated and fell too, Lance landing on top of him. Both of them groaned, and in the next moment they were laughing.

Lance hid his face in Keith’s shoulder because he couldn’t keep himself up from how hard he was laughing. Keith was laughing too, head thrown back, and neck exposed. Lance felt the vibrations from Keith’s laugh in his body, and stopped laughing slowly. He stared down at Keith, enjoying the view. He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen Keith this carefree. This was the Keith Lance fell in love with.

Keith’s laughter subsided too, only the occasional chuckle making its way past his lips, but he was still holding onto Lance. He opened his eyes, and Lance was happy that the smile on Keith’s face didn’t drop. They silently gazed into each other’s eyes as Keith’s finger stroked Lance’s hip. Lance wanted to touch Keith too. He wanted to card his fingers through Keith’s hair, let his hand slip under his shirt, he yearned for a kiss, but he didn’t dare move. He was afraid this was an illusion and that it would vanish. Afraid that Keith might reject him again.

A frown replaced the smile on Keith’s face, and Lance was shaken out of his stupor. He blinked rapidly and then felt the tears falling. Cursing mentally, Lance was already wiping them away. He halted when his hand was replaced with Keith’s, cupping his cheek, and wiping away the tears for him.

“What’s wrong, Lance?” Keith’s voice was just as full of worry as his face.

Lance allowed himself a moment of weakness, and leaned into Keith’s hand. Keith’s eyes widened in surprise but he didn’t pull his hand back. He gulped, and put his other hand on Lance’s cheek too. Keith sat up, bringing Lance with him and pulled Lance into his lap. Lance held back a sob, closing his eyes to will the tears away, and looked down. He couldn’t believe he was crying in front of Keith. It had been such a long time since Lance had cried because of Keith, but everything was too overwhelming. Keith was overwhelming, and so were the memories of them together that decided to come back and haunt Lance now.

“Lance.” Keith sounded pained.

Lance cursed himself again for doing this in front of Keith. He didn’t want him to feel guilty. So Lance took in a deep breath through his nose, wiped away the last tears, and rested his forehead on Keith’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry. Just need a moment,” he mumbled.

Lance felt it. He knew Keith too well to not know that the boy was hesitant in that moment, but he was surprised when Keith hugged him. He pulled Lance closer and hid his face in Lance’s neck.

“Why?” he mumbled into the skin there. “Do you really love me this much that you’re willing to go through this torture?” Lance stiffened in his arms, eyes wide open, and wanted to pull back but was kept from doing so by Keith’s string grip. “How can you love me?”

Lance finally managed to pull away and look at Keith’s face. He had directed it towards his lap as if he was guilty of something. No. Lance didn’t want this. He took Keith’s face into his hands and made him look up. Keith was struggling to hold Lance’s gaze.

“All of this doesn’t matter,” Lance said and Keith huffed.

“How can this not matter? How can you say that?”

“I should have never confessed to you. I just wasn’t willing to accept that we had broken up. It was a mistake.”

Keith looked down again and when he spoke up he sounded small. “Now you don’t want to be in a… relationship anymore?”

Lance put on a smile and said as cheerfully as he could manage. “To be honest, right now I’d still pick relationship over friendship but I’ll get there. I won’t bother you anymore.”

Lance let out a surprised yelp when Keith suddenly pushed him to the floor. He situated himself between Lance’s legs, supporting his weight on an arm next to Lance’s head, and his nose was almost touching Lance’s. Lance was so taken aback by this despite how familiar this was. Keith had done this to him too many times but in a different setting. Now as Lance stared into Keith’s furious eyes, having Keith’s other hand still on his thigh, Lance couldn’t help but think back to those times.

“Don’t you dare laugh this off,” Keith said through gritted teeth. He glared at Lance for a moment and then let out a defeated sigh. Lance tried not to stiffen when Keith rested his forehead on Lance’s shoulder. Slowly he started mumbling. “You were right. I feel something for you.” Lance froze immediately upon hearing that. His heart was pounding in his chest and he didn’t know if he would survive this. “I thought I could stay away from you. I thought I could let you live your life while I was living mine next to yours but I can’t. I want you. It got… It got better after the incident in the cave, but only for a short moment. I grew greedy. I wanted more. I wanted all of you. Still do.”

Lance’s breath hitched when he heard that and he sunk his nails into Keith’s sides, feeling like he was falling. He was suddenly too aware of their position, of Keith’s hand still on his thigh. Lance wanted more too. Lance wanted all of Keith too.

Keith removed his head from Lance’s shoulder and for a moment Lance considered pulling Keith back in. But then Keith was staring into Lance’s eyes and Lance was frozen when he saw the tears. “I just don’t think I deserve you. You should get so much better than I am. Forget-”

Keith stopped as if saying what he wanted to say pained him, and closed his eyes. The tears slipped, falling on Lance’s face, and Lance scowled. “And why is that?” he demanded. “Because of you being half galra.”

No. Don’t, a voice in Lance’s mind said. Remember that you’re fine with being friends. That’s what you want. But Lance didn’t want to reason with himself anymore. Keith wanted him and he wanted Keith. He could barely hear that voice over the pounding of his heart either way.

“That’s-” Keith started but had to clear his throat. “That’s not a small thing. You should forget me.”

Lance scowled at him and sat upright. Keith looked surprised by the move but didn’t do anything. “What do you mean 'forget me’? What about you then?”

“I’ll manage. I’ve hurt you enough.

Lance groaned and cupped Keith’s cheeks. "What if I don’t want to forget you?”

“You have to.”

“I think I already told you to not decide over our relationship on your own. If you don’t want to be my boyfriend, okay. I can live with that. But don’t make my decisions for me. You can’t decide what I want and what not.”

Keith looked down again, cheeks tinted with a blush. Lance knew that he was struggling, fighting himself.

“I love you,” Lance said, Keith inhaled sharply. “You’re still the boy who jumps into dangerous situations to save people. You’re still the one who sacrifices himself for others. You’re still the boy who awkwardly tried to console me when I was sad because of my family. I don’t care which species you are from.”

Lance let Keith digest that. He could see that Keith’s stubborn resolve was crumbling. “You don’t have to be my boyfriend if you don’t want to but I’d really like it. We don’t have to start where we left off. We can start from scratch and do it different this time. As slow as you want. And if you feel like you don’t want that then you can always break up with me.”

Keith shook his head. “Why are you doing this?”

“You deserve love, and if I can be the one to give you that then why should I let someone else do it?”

Keith closed his eyes. His chest was heaving up and down with heavy breaths, and he was shaking. Lance tried to give him some comfort by pulling him into a half embrace. Keith opened his mouth and closed it again, only able to take in a shaky breath. His voice was raspy when he panted, “I… I don’t-”

Lance rubbed his arms and smiled at him coyly. “It’s fine. You don’t have to answer now. Think about it.”

Keith nodded gratefully, and lowered his gaze again. He was trying to control his breathing again. Lance nudged Keith lightly and motioned to his bed when Keith looked up. He helped Keith to lay on his bed and proceeded to gather Keith’s pillows and his blanket. After tucking Keith in, he took a seat on the bed, and watched Keith calm down. It was important to make sure that Keith wouldn’t turn into a galra now although that had been their initial plan.

Keith’s eyes were closed and he was shaking considerably less than minutes before. When his breathing was regular again, Lance was sure that he had fallen asleep. He got up as slowly as possible, considering cleaning up the mess they had made for a second but decided against it in fear of waking Keith up. So he just went to leave. He didn’t get far because a hand was holding him from walking away. Lance looked at Keith and was surprised to see him pouting.

“Where are you going?”

Lance kneeled next to Keith so he needn’t have to crane his head anymore to look at Lance. He took the fact that Keith was still holding onto his hand as a permission to stroke Keith’s hair with his free hand.

“I’m just going to bed.”

Keith furrowed his eyebrows and his pout intensified. Lance grinned in response. For a moment Lance thought - hoped – that Keith would tell him to stay but Keith only nodded and said. “Good night.”

“Good night, Keith,” Lance whispered and got up.

His hand slipped out of Keith’s and he fell asleep with hope.

The next morning Lance opened the door of his room to go to breakfast when he saw Keith standing in front of his room. Keith’s eyes widened and his jaw fell, hand raised as if he wanted to knock. Lance was only confused for a second. His heart jumped and he couldn’t hold back his grin when he realized that Keith was there for him. Judging by the spreading blush on Keith’s face, he saw the moment Lance realized why he was here, and turned away.

“Hungry?” Lance asked to free Keith from his misery although he enjoyed it.

Keith glanced at him and nodded. Lance lead the way and Keith followed him, arms crossed over his chest. If Lance hadn’t known Keith well then he would have thought that Keith hated being there. That was what Lance thought in the Garrison and the beginning of their friendship. But now Lance knew better. He knew that Keith sometimes just didn’t need to say anything. Or in this case, that he was nervous.

“How did you sleep?” Lance broke the silence, not because he thought it was awkward but because he was yearning to hear Keith’s voice.

Keith took a deep breath as discreetly as he could. “Fine,” and then after three seconds, “How… did you sleep?”

Lance huffed. The hesitant behaviour reminded him of the beginning of their relationship. Back then it had resulted in an awkward atmosphere but now Lance knew Keith too well to let that disturb him.

“Great. I had this great dream about how we kicked galra ass.”

Keith was smiling. Lance knew Keith was smiling without having to look. That was why he continued to describe the dream in great detail, lying about the part where he saved Keith and Keith thanked him, which Keith didn’t need to know. The scowl on Keith’s face was rather endearing than threatening, and Lance wished he had a camera to perpetuate that moment.

*

“Do you hear something when you shift?” Lance asked, and he expected the incredulous look from Keith but it didn’t feel any less stupid. “Just answer the question.”

“No.”

Lance was again in Keith’s room, trying to help Keith with his shifting. The coyness that had followed Keith and Lance during the whole day vanished when it came to business, but there were still the subtle glances and lingering touches.

“I guess you also don’t taste something when you shift,” Lance said and didn’t look up from his notes.

“No, I don’t.”

“No smelling it either?”

“Nope.”

Lance ignored the impatience in Keith’s voice and continued. “Did you ever watch yourself shift? Do you know how it looks?”

Keith looked at the floor, deep in thought. “Yes. Kind of. Most of the times it went all too fast to even realize it was happening but I got bits of it.”

“Describe it.”

“The first few times it was just a few spots on my hands or other body parts. The purple skin would just spread out and remain like it for a few seconds. When I did full shifts it happened all too fast and at once. But then again I wasn’t keeping an eye on it because I was too distracted.”

Lance nodded and noted it. “How does it feel? I mean besides the anger and stuff. When you only concentrate on how the shifting feels. Does it hurt? Does your skin stretch? Can you feel the colour change?”

This time Keith’s silence was longer than the one before. Lance waited patiently and tried not to think about how Keith might have been hurting while he was shifting.

“It doesn’t hurt,” Keith spoke up. “It tingles a little and I feel the stretching but it doesn’t hurt. And I don’t feel the colour change.”

“Maybe the tingling is the colour change.”

“Maybe. Would make sense,” Keith waited for a moment until Lance had stopped writing and then asked, “What now?”

“Now you will concentrate on everything that you said and try to shift like that. Allura said that in the beginning she used to concentrate on the feelings and imagine herself as a galra.”

“You told Allura?” Keith exclaimed and jumped up.

Lance got up too and held out his hands. “Keith, relax. I would never tell her about you. I told her I was interested in it because I found a book about shifting in the library and was apparently convinced that humans may be able to shift too if they concentrated hard enough.”

Keith sighed and his shoulders sagged. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. Shall we try now?”

Keith looked at Lance uncertainly but nodded nonetheless. He stood in the middle of the room and closed his eyes. Lance waited with his pen in his hand, ready to note anything that would be interesting. Nothing happened. He opened his eyes and Lance shot him a smile. The edges of Keith’s mouth curled up but he closed his eyes again. This time, his brows furrowed in concentration and he curled his hands into fists. But nothing happened again.

Keith sighed and opened his eyes. “It’s not working.”

Lance put the pen and papers away, and stood in front of Keith. “What are you thinking about?”

“Zarkon, Thace, Sendak.”

“Stop that. Concentrate on yourself, on what we talked about. On the tingling. On the stretching. On getting taller. On the spreading of the colour.”

Keith nodded and closed his eyes again. He bit his lower lip and furrowed his eyebrows again. Lance lead his hands to Keith’s face and tried to smoothen out the wrinkles. Keith’s eyes opened wide and he stared at Keith with an open mouth.

Then Lance cupped Keith’s cheeks and said, “Try not to concentrate on negative things like anger and all those stupid galras. Concentrate on yourself.”

Keith nodded and Lance let go of Keith. A look of concentration was still on Keith’s face but he looked less troubled. Lance saw his eyes moving under his eyelids.

“Tingling. Stretching. Spreading,” Lance whispered, and hoped he was being helpful. “Tingling. Stretching. Spreading.”

Keith’s face contorted into something painful and Lance was ready to stop him but then a spot on Keith’s neck turned purple. Lance froze, staring at Keith in awe. More smaller purple spots appeared on Keith’s skin and suddenly Keith bent over, gasping for air. In an instant, Lance had his arms around Keith and was holding him up. He lead Keith to his bed and sat him down, kneeling in front of him. “You did it,” Lance said and then tackled him with a hug.

When Lance backed off, Keith was facing the other way. Lance held up his face and looked at the purple spots that vanished slowly. Lance caressed a purple spot on Keith’s cheek with his thumb and asked. “Does it hurt?”

“No,” Keith squeaked and cleared his throat. “No.”

Keith was avoiding Lance’s gaze, Lance’s hands not allowing him to face the other way. A hopeful side of Lance said it was because of him but Lance wasn’t convinced. “What’s wrong?”

Keith looked at him with wide eyes, the purple spots having disappeared now fully. He opened his mouth but decided against talking. Then he shook his head. Lance smiled and rested his forehead on Keith’s. “You did it. I’m so proud of you,” Lance said as he was looking into Keith’s eyes.

Keith’s cheeks turned red and Lance ignored it although he enjoyed the effect he still had on Keith.

“It’s late,” Lance added and removed his hands from Keith’s face, “You should rest now. We’ll continue this tomorrow.”

Keith nodded, hesitated, and didn’t say anything again. Lance let him be.

The days continued on like this. Keith and Lance hung out a lot more again without the weird atmosphere around. The rest of the group took that as an invitation to join them as much as possible. Lance knew that they could see it. They were all aware that there was happening more than just friendship between Lance and Keith. Shiro even took both of them aside one by one to make sure that they knew what they were doing.

“We’re supposed to be training close combat fighting,” Keith said, arms crossed over his chest and hip cocked to the side.

Lance raised his energy rifle, the one Coran gave him to train with because this one couldn’t hurt anyone too severely like his bayard, and shot at Keith.

“Ouch,” Keith whined and rubbed his shoulder.

“You’re dead. Now we can’t train anymore. So much for your close combat fighting.”

Keith huffed and stood straight again. “Put that away and- OWWW! Stop that.”

Lance looked at the rifle and then back at Keith, then fired again. He fired a second and a third time, and that was when Keith said, “Enough, you’re done,” and charged at Lance.

Lance shrieked and started running away while he was still trying to shoot Keith. He barely hit Keith and managed to get tackled to the ground by Keith. “Ha! What now?”

“If this were real you’d be dead anyway,” Lance countered and let Keith pin him to the ground.

“Yeah but I’m not. So you need to learn how to protect yourself in case you can’t use your bayard.”

“Why can’t you do it?” Lance asked petulantly.

“Because as much as I’d like to I can’t be with you all the time.”

“Why not?”

“Just because I can’t.”

Lance raised his head from the ground and invaded Keith’s personal space. “But you’d like to, huh?”

Keith opened his mouth and then flushed. Without saying anything, he twisted Lance’s arm and then got up. “Come on now.”

Lance chuckled but obliged, using that situation to be physically as close to Keith as possible and then saying something embarrassing. During dinner, Keith took a seat next to Lance although there were other free seats, and Lance forgot what he was talking about. Lance knew this game. They had played it in the beginning of their relationship too, and just like last time, this time Lance would also be the one to win at making Keith as flustered as possible.

When the team didn’t need to help any planets from being taken over by galras, Lance and Keith were mostly together. Keith was making progress in his shifting though not as much as Lance would have liked to, and Lance was still getting tackled to the floor by Keith on the training deck. Pidge and Hunk had left long ago because they didn’t want to witness anymore of Lance’s weird flirting antics.

“You’re doing this on purpose,” Keith said as he was straddling Lance and pinning him to the floor. Keith’s eyes flicked down Lance’s face and then back to his eyes.

Lance smirked and said faster than he could think. “I just can’t help myself falling for you, babe.”

Before Lance could apologize, a pair of lips was on his and his lips was throbbing from the clash. Keith pulled back just as fast as he had leaned in, and stared at Lance in horror. “Sorry, I should have asked.”

Lance’s body was screaming at him. He was sure his heart shouldn’t be pounding as fast as it did. He pushed Keith onto the ground as softly as he could although his urgency didn’t leave him any room for tenderness. “Would have been a yes anyway,” he mumbled against Keith’s lips and kissed him.

Keith whined and dug his fingers into Lance’s shirt. Lance snaked his arm around Keith’s waist and pressed him closer to himself. With his other hand he pinned Keith’s hand to the ground, wanting to feel like he had some hold onto reality. He wanted Keith. He wanted as much of Keith as he could take in. Panting hard against Keith’s mouth, Lance took his lower lip into his mouth and sucked on it. Lance craved more. He had been starving for so long and now finally had the chance to still his hunger.

Lance let go of Keith’s hand and dug his fingers into his hair, pulling his head back. He pulled his arm out of under Keith’s body, and pulled back the collar of Keith’s shirt down. Keith moaned and arched into Lance.

It wasn’t enough. No matter what Lance did it just wasn’t enough. He sucked, he nibbled, he licked, and it didn’t leave him satiated in the least. So he bit. Keith mewled, his hand helplessly ripping at Lance’s shirt and let out a moan with every exhale.

“Lance,” Keith moaned. “Lance.”

“Keith.”

“Lance.”

Lance kissed Keith again, and then tore himself away. He lay on his back a few meters away from Keith so he could calm down. He closed eyes and crossed his arms over them, trying to regulate his breathing. Lance’s skin was burning and he could still feel Keith tearing at his shirt.

Go back. He’s right here. You want him.

Lance ignored that voice and concentrated on his breathing. He knew he wanted Keith. He didn’t need an obnoxious subconscious telling him that. But he also needed to calm down because he had told Keith that they would go as slow as he wanted them. And this hadn’t been slow. This had been jumping over too many steps.

With a silent sigh, Lance sat up and looked at Keith. He was covering his eyes with his arms, chest heaving up and down. Lance walked to the corner where he had discarded his jacket before they had started their training, and covered Keith with it. Keith immediately gripped the jacket and nuzzled into it. Lance smiled over how little Keith had changed. He kissed the top of Keith’s hair and then left.

That evening they both missed Keith’s shifting training.

It was going well. Keith’s shifting training as much as their relationship but Lance was at a dead end. In both things, he realized as he was watching Keith again shift in his room. He wasn’t talking about how both of them didn’t kiss again after that one time. They had been physically even closer than before. But there was something that was holding Keith back from shifting fully although he shifted a lot faster now than he used to in the beginning. He should actually be able to shift a lot more than just the random specks all over his body.

“Stop,” Lance said and got up from the ground.

“Sorry,” Keith mumbled as Lance stood in front of him.

“What’s wrong, Keith?”

“I don’t know. I’m just tired.”

“You said this morning you slept heavenly and we didn’t even train today. What did you do to get tired so fast You barely ever sleep and still function on other days.” Keith bit his lip and refused to look Lance in the eyes. “Something is holding you back from shifting fully. What is it? You can talk to me, Keith,” Lance added when Keith made no move to talk.

Keith sighed and turned his back to Lance. “I just don’t want you to see me like that.”

Lance inhaled deeply. Of course. He should have thought of that. He took Keith by his hand and lead him to the bathroom where there was a small mirror. Lance forced Keith to stand in front of that mirror and look at himself. “Who are you?” Lance asked.

“What?”

Keith tried to turn around but Lance tightened his grip on his shoulders. “Who are you?” he repeated.

Keith looked at Lance through the mirror and said. “I’m Keith.”

“Now look at yourself and say it again.”

Keith sighed but obliged. “I’m Keith.”

“More,” Lance ordered. “Who are you?”

“Former fighter pilot of the Garrison, paladin of Voltron, guardian spirit of fire, pilot of the red lion, etc. I don’t know. What do you want to hear?” Keith said exasperatedly.

Lance dragged Keith back into his room and ordered. “Now turn. I know you can.”

Keith stared at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. “I can’t. Didn’t you see.”

“You can, Keith,” Lance insisted. “I know you. Now do it.”

The two stared each other down for a minute until Keith gave in with a sigh. He closed his eyes and turned into full-fledged galra right in front of Lance’s eyes. Lance stared in awe, speechless for a moment. Keith was almost a head taller than him, his skin purple, and his ears having turned into galran ones that looked rather cute as they were poking out under his signature hair.

“Wow,” he breathed after a moment.

Keith snapped his eyes open but turned away when his yellow eyes met Lance’s. Lance was a little surprised by the colour although he knew galras had yellow eyes. Nonetheless, he took Keith’s hand, for now ignoring how surprised Keith looked. He lead him to the bathroom again and stood him in front of the mirror.

“Who are you?” Lance asked softly, not as firm as before.

Keith looked at Lance horrified, his gaze pleading. Lance wanted take Keith away from there and hide him safely in his arms. But he knew he had to do this. Keith had to do this. So Lance turned Keith’s face towards the mirror again. Keith closed his eyes, refusing to look at his reflection.

“Who are you?” Lance repeated.

Keith was shaking. His hands were curled into fists and he was still refusing to look into the mirror. Lance waited patiently and then put a hand on his shoulder encouragingly. Keith sighed and then slowly opened his eyes. It was hard to make out due to the yellow colour but his eyes seemed dull, equivalent to human’s red eyes, and Lance was sure he saw something glisten.

“I’m…” Keith stopped and that was when the first tear slipped. Lance tightened his grip on his shoulder. Stop, stopstopstop. A voice in him was urging him to stop this torture but Keith needed this.

Keith let out a sob and inhaled deeply, looking at himself in the mirror again. “I’m Keith.” His voice was shaking, barely a whisper.

“And?” Lance urged just as softly as before.

“I’m a former fighter pilot of the Garrison, paladin of Voltron, pilot of-” Keith’s body shook with a sob and he closed his eyes. Lance tightened his grip again. “Pi-pilot of the red lion, guardian spirit of fire.” Keith voice disappeared towards the end, and Lance barely managed to get him out of the bathroom again before he broke down.

Keith’s body shook with sobs and he was hiding his face in his hands. Lance wrapped his arms around his shoulders and leaned Keith into himself. He held Keith as the boy cried, and cried silent tears too. Every time Keith calmed down a little, he started crying again, and Lance just held him. After a long time, Keith removed himself from Lance’s. He wiped away his tears, took a long breath, and closed his eyes.

Lance gripped his arm when he realized what Keith wanted to do and shook his head, “Not now,” and shushed Keith when he wanted to speak up. He cupped Keith’s cheeks and looked into his yellow eyes that Keith was desperately trying to hide. “I see you,” Lance said, “I know who you are. I take you for who you are. I love you.”

Keith whimpered as fresh tears rolled down his cheeks, and he hid his face in his hands again. Lance kissed the top of his head and whispered into his hair. “Now.”

Keith took a while to calm down again. Then he inhaled deeply, and closed his eyes. It took him a little longer to turn back human, and when he was done he sagged into himself, exhausted. Lance picked him up, put him on his bed, and covered him in his blanket. He didn’t know if Keith wanted him to stay. He had forced Keith to turn in front of him and put him through hell, but Lance didn’t want Keith to be alone. So he took a seat on his bed and carded his fingers through Keith’s hair. He hoped it was soothing and eased some of Keith’s pain.

Lance leaned down again and pressed a kiss to Keith’s hair. “I’m sorry.”

Keith gripped Lance’s hand and for a moment Lance was afraid Keith would push him away. But Keith only held his hand and scooted towards the wall, tapping the now free spot on his bed. Lance put off his jacket and shoes, and crawled under the blanket next to Keith. He immediately held Keith close to him when the latter put his head on his chest. A huge burden was lifted off of Lance’s chest, and he could finally breathe peacefully.

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” Lance mumbled into Keith’s hair.

Keith lifted his head off Lance’s chest and shifted around until he was comfortably leaning over Lance. Lance welcomed the kiss that Keith pressed to his mouth and didn’t stop Keith from pulling back. It was Keith’s way of saying that he wasn’t angry but that he also didn’t want to talk about it now. Keith settled back to putting his head on Lance’s chest. Lance obliged immediately by pulling him closer.

Lance woke up the next day with a stinging arm. He groaned at the numbness of it but tried to lay still for Keith’s sake. The memories from the day before came crushing in, and Lance felt awful pulling his arm out under Keith. When Keith opened his eyes, Lance felt even worse. Keith let Lance pull his arm out and laid down again, closing his eyes. Lance waited until his arm was a little better, and then put his other arm around Keith’s waist.

“Good morning,” Lance mumbled. He knew that Keith wasn’t asleep.

“Morning,” Keith mumbled without opening his eyes.

“How are you feeling?”

Keith was silent. Lance waited patiently for him to gather his thoughts and then respond if he wanted to. Keith opened his eyes. “I’m fine. A little tired but fine.”

“You should eat something. Do you think you can go to the kitchen?”

Keith buried his fingers in Lance’s shirt and nuzzled closer. “Can’t we stay here?”

Lance chuckled, recognizing Keith’s strategy immediately. “You should eat something. Yesterday was draining for you.”

Keith pouted but nodded. Instead of getting up, he snaked his arms around Lance’s torso and hid his face in his chest. Lance hugged him back, pressing a kiss to his hair, and mumbling. “You’re not getting out of this though.”

Keith huffed out a breathy laugh and climbed on top of Lance. He made himself as heavy as possible so Lance would have no chance of getting up.

“Okay, now you’re just being ridiculous,” Lance said but he was smiling. Keith hadn’t been that carefree around him since a long time. The fact that he was doing this right after the events of the day before assured Lance that he wasn’t angry. That didn’t keep him from apologizing though. “I’m sorry.”

Keith looked at him confused. Then his eyes glinted with realization and he shook his head. “Don’t be. It wasn’t a pleasant experience but one that I still needed.”

Lance nodded, and then sat up, nudging Keith. “Come on. Let’s go.”

Keith groaned but let Lance get up. Lance used the bathroom first and then shooed Keith in. Before they left the room, Keith pulled Lance in and pressed a small kiss to his lips. Then Keith fled from the room and Lance followed him with a smile.

*

“Allura still won’t talk to me,” Keith mumbled.

Keith was leaning with his back on Lance’s chest and Lance had his arms wrapped around Keith’s middle. He tightened his hold on Keith, eyes still on the stars they could see from where they were sitting. “She’ll be fine. I know it’s unfair of her to act like that. I guess that since Zarkon was also a paladin once she can’t really trust you but that doesn’t mean you’re like him.”

Keith sighed and intertwined his fingers with Lance’s. “She’ll come around. Remember when you were afraid no one would accept you, and now everything is going almost perfect.”

“Hunk is still a little awkward,” Keith reminded Lance.

“Yeah but that’s Hunk. He still gives you big hugs and makes you food. That’s like a marriage proposal.”

Keith huffed out a laugh and turned in Lance’s arms. Lance met Keith halfway and eagerly kissed back. He didn’t protest when Keith pushed him to the floor and straddled his hips to kiss him properly.

“I’m so mad those galra ruined our date,” Keith said and nibbled on Lance’s jaw.

Lance laughed. “I couldn’t even say with how much you actually kicked their asses.” Lance hissed when Keith bit him for that but added. “I think they learned their lesson. I’m sure next time they attack they’ll ask if we’re on a date or not.”

“I sure hope so,” Keith said, now paying attention to Lance’s neck.

“Shouldn’t we take this to our room?” Lance asked but didn’t stop Keith from sucking on his neck. It felt too good.

“I don’t think that anyone will ever enter this place after what they saw the last time.”

Lance laughed but it was broken by a moan. “I’m pretty sure Shiro will still come in to judge us. And aren’t there also cameras everywhere. Someone could be watching us.”

Keith stopped biting Lance’s collarbone and looked at him with hooded eyes. “That’s kind of hot.”

“Even if it’s Coran or Pidge?”

Keith grimaced and got up, pulling the laughing Lance up by his hand. “We’re leaving. Now.”

“What if I don’t want to?”

Keith pulled Lance’s closer and pressed a hand to Lance’s crotch. Lance hissed when his half hard cock jumped at the touch. “Are you sure you don’t?” Keith breathed into Lance’s ear.

“You little shit.”

Lance threw Keith over his shoulder and threatened to let him fall. They didn’t make it to one of their rooms. Only to an empty storage room close by.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I kind of half-assed it towards the end but to be honest I was kind of starting to hate this story so I thought I'd rather publish this.
> 
> Hope you still liked it though. Comments and kudos are welcomed.
> 
> tumblr: @mitaki

**Author's Note:**

> Hope this was fine. See you all (hopefully) later.
> 
> tumblr: @mitaki


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